Warrior's Ethos
by soran51
Summary: I will always place the mission first, I will never accept defeat, I will never quit, I will never leave a fallen comrade. Jason Shaw knew it was the end when he saw that grenade come through the window. Given a second chance as an immortal warrior he'll have to keep Commander Shepard alive, because failure is absolutely not an option. Now if only she'd learn to keep her head down.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Alright people I've given up on The Alliance's Spartan for now. Mostly because I had this little bug in my head and I had to get it out on paper for you all to read. Feel free to send me all the PM's you want about how disappointed you are, I'm sorry. Anyway in the meantime I've been wanting to do something like this ever since I started playing Destiny (Back during the Beta mind you.) but I never figured out how to do it until now. **

**Destiny belongs to Bungie.**

**Mass Effect belongs to EA and Bioware.**

**All characters portrayed therein are strictly fictional, any similarity to real people is completely coincidental.**

**Update: 1/26/2015 Thanks to DivineWhisperV2**, **I now have a BETA. WOOT! Anyway he brought some comments to my attention for Chapter One and Two so I'll be making these updates now. In the future with his help I hope to bring you a more complete story with out the need to update individual chapters. Thanks for reading!**

"Speach."

*Radio/Comlink*

_/Ghost while in Jason's head/_

_Thoughts_

**Chapter One: Training Day**

_**"**__**I will always place the mission first, I will never accept defeat, I will never quit, I will never leave a fallen comrade. "**_

In the space between universes two entities met. Breathed into life when the multiverse began, these beings were as old as time itself. There were others of course, far stranger entities that had survived the test of time, but they rarely looked to the lower levels of existence.

"Hello my dear." Entropy called out in a singsong voice.

Order gave him a flat stare, "What do you want Entropy?"

"Oh come now. We haven's spoken in an age my dear. You aren't still mad at me are you?" Entropy asked innocently.

Order didn't bat an eye. "You blew up a star." She said simply.

Entropy sighed, "I know I did. I'm sorry about the star." He said.

Order's eye twitched.

_Oh boy, _ Entropy thought, _ this is going to be bad._

"You're sorry about the star! What about the people that lived on the planet? What about the solar system that's now gone? We had an agreement! We were supposed to be in this together! Do you know how much heat I had to take for you! Do you have any idea what the others wanted to do to you. It was everything I could do to get you banished here rather than destroyed!" She screeched. Finished with her tirade Order realized that she had been pummeling on Entropy. With a deep breath Order took her favorite guise, that of a young woman in a brilliant red dress. She had striking looks and long raven colored hair that flowed like silk down to her back. It was the same form she had worn for each of her meetings for Entropy.

Entropy took the form of a broad shouldered man with a square chin He was wearing a classic business suit with pinstripes complete with tie and mirrored sunglasses. "You look radiant my dear." He said.

"I haven't forgiven you, you know?" Order asked.

Entropy sighed, "I know. I truly am sorry though, but that's why I'm here. I want to make it up to you."

Order's eye's narrowed in suspicion, "I'd have to be crazy to trust you." She said.

"I know. I know." Entropy said, "But these last four million years, something's changed. There are forces moving that we need to look into. We can't afford to hide any longer. We need to start making our moves. Spending all this time among the lower levels has shown me a great deal."

Order didn't let up her gaze. Entropy, by nature, was chaotic. She had told him on more than one occasion that that name would suit him better, but he refuse saying it was too cliché. Order wasn't foolish enough to think that Entropy was completely repentant. She did consider, however, that he might be telling the truth for once.

"Alright." She said.

"Yes!" Entropy started to do a jig but stopped as soon as Order pointed a finger in his face.

"But!" She said looking him in the eyes. "You are going to tell me everything."

"On my honor." He said giving her a little bow. "Now there's nothing concrete, but the patterns are there if you let me explain. It'll take time."

"Very well." Order agreed.

_**"**__**I will always place the mission first, I will never accept defeat, I will never quit, I will never leave a fallen comrade. "**_

The first thing Jason realized was that he wasn't in any pain. Which was odd given the days events. Suddenly everything came back to him, his squad, his buddies getting shot, and the grenade coming through the window.

"What happened to me?" he asked patting himself down looking for signs of injury,

"You see that is a perfectly normal response." Said a voice behind him.

In an second Jason was on his feet with the only weapon he had available in his hand, his boot knife. In front of him was a beautiful woman with cream colored skin dressed in a magnificent red dress. Beside her was a serious looking man in a business suit with a tie.

"Oh excellent reaction time!" The man said. "I think he'll do nicely my dear."

"Agreed." The woman said.

Turning back to Jason the man in the suit held out his hand. "I'm Entropy." He said.

Jason took a step back from the proffered hand and didn't relax at all.

"Ah." Entropy said. "I see. My dear would you please introduce yourself and explain everything to our friend here?" The man stepped back and the woman took his place.

"Hello Jason my name is Order." She smiled at him. "Entropy and I have a job opportunity for you. One that we'd like you to consider."

Jason slowly put his knife away. Now that he had the chance to look around he felt kind of foolish standing there holding it. Who ever the man and woman were, something about them set his nerves on edge. Maybe the fact they were also in a room so white that he couldn't tell if he was standing on a floor had something to do with his unease.

"Who are you?" Jason asked.

"Ah!" Entropy stepped forward, "That's more of a question of 'What?'" He waved his hand and suddenly Jason and the two others were washed in blackness. "You're aware of the Big Bang Theory? And no I don't mean the television show." He asked.

"Just the stuff I learned in high school science class." Jason said. "All the matter in the universe began at a single point. Then it spread out across the universe in a massive explosion called the Big Bang."

"Yes exactly." Entropy said. Suddenly there was a massive report of an explosion. With a roar Jason was suddenly surrounded by a torrent of colors and lights. Then everything stopped, like someone hit the pause button.

"This is thirty milliseconds after the big bang." Entropy explained. "Right now the universe is only about ten to twenty million light years across. In another thirty milliseconds it'll be ten times that size and there will already be four or five parallel universes, but here is the when the magic happened."

Order stepped forward, "In an instant, hundreds of thousands of new elements were created, and destroyed just as quickly."

"If you take some of these elements, bombard them with phasic photonic energy, mix in some exotic particles, add a cup of self awareness, season with some emotion, add a pinch of humor, and throw in few hundred thousand terajoules of energy and bam! You get us!" Entropy said excitedly.

Jason raised an eyebrow at Entropy's antics, "Okay…"

Entropy' shoulder's visibly sagged, "It's like talking to a gorilla."

"Hey!"

Order stepped in to calm Jason down, "What Entropy was trying to explain is that we are trans-galactic multidimensional beings. We were brought into existence by the big bang, but it took us almost fifty million years or so to become self aware."

Jason had always been pretty flexible, it's what made him such a good soldier. Even he had to admit that he was skeptical, however. "Okay, so what do you want with me? And how did I get here."

"We'll get to that. I promise." Entropy said. "When we first became self aware, Order and I traveled the multitude of galaxies and universes exploring. I'll admit we saw some pretty amazing stuff, but all the interesting crap happened in the first five billion years or so. When you get to be as old as time itself you tend to get bored. You watch one supernova you've seen them all. In the beginning there's a lot of excitement, but then its over too quickly and what's left is disappointing."

"That's true for a lot of things. Not just supernovas by the way." Order said looking at Entropy.

"Hey!" It was Entropy's turn to act all indignant and upset.

Order laughed as Entropy gave her a glare. Turning back to Jason "The reason why were telling you this Jason is because we're not the only beings like us in existence."

"Wait there are more of you?" Jason asked.

"Yes Jason. Entropy and I are among the oldest but once you consider the near infinite number of universes out there, beings such as ourselves become much more common than you'd think. For the most part they leave the lower levels of existence alone, but it has become apparent to Entropy that some of us are manipulating your level of existence."

Jason raised an eyebrow, "Why would they do that? What could they gain by messing with us. Sounds to me like you guys don't need anything of ours."

"That's what were trying to figure out Jason. That's also why we need your help, it's why we brought you here. If we make a move, we'll expose ourselves, and before we do that we need to find out why they're doing it. We'd like to send you to where we think they're going to attack next, hopefully you'll be able to learn something of their motives, maybe even stop them if your lucky."

"Are you guys nuts!" Jason yelled. "You what? Pick some random person in all of creation throw them in some random situation and laugh as they muddle through! Why would anyone go for that? I have duties back home."

Entropy glared at him, "First off kid there's no such thing as sanity only varying degrees of crazy, if you had a woman in your life you'd know that."

"Hey!" Order yelled.

"You know I love you dear." Turning back to Jason he continued, "As for the situations they're not random. I'm not going to tell you why not yet. Mostly because I haven't confirmed my suspicions yet, but I promise when I do, you'll be the first to know, I just hope I'm wrong. What I will tell you is that, if you agree, wherever you find yourself, its real. The consequences if you fail are real, for you and for those around you. If you succeed in facing these challenges, you'll have another chance at life if you fail. . . it won't matter because chances are you'll be dead."

Jason's blood pressure which had been steadily climbing for the past few minuets slowly started to come back down. As a soldier Jason knew all about operational security. "What else can you tell me?"

"Only that their efforts seemed to be focused around Earth and its many copies."

"Copies?" Jason asked.

"Yes you've heard of the multi universe theory correct?" At Jason's nod Entropy continued, "As far as we can tell Earth appears to be some sort of nexus for the multiverse. It appears in some form or another in nearly every universe. Simple mechanics tells us that this _shouldn't _be possible, but I've confirmed it myself."

"What's their MO?" Jason asked.

"Their interfering with events at key points. Most of which have had some pretty devastating consequences resulting in the destruction of Earth in some form or another." Jason felt the blood drain from his face at the look on Entropy's face.

"This is all real isn't it?" Jason asked slowly. "You're telling me the truth. Some where out there, some one is destroying Earth's. This isn't some fantasy I've cooked up in my head this is real."

"Yes Jason, I'm afraid so." Order said gently as she place a hand over his heart.

"If I agree to help you, what can you give me?" Jason asked.

"You mean the grenade?" Order asked. At the look Jason gave her she gave a small chuckle, "We've been watching you for a while Jason. Nothing is random remember. If you help us out, we'll guarantee your squad mates will make it home. We'll alter their perceptions a little bit, they'll think you died saving their lives. I promise they'll get chance to go home. I can't guarantee that they'll take it however."

"That's fine." Jason said suddenly, "As long as it's their decision to make." He still wasn't completely convinced that this wasn't some hallucination, but something in his gut told him that wasn't the case, and besides if it turns out this is a hallucination it would end soon enough anyway, and if it wasn't his friends would get the chance to go home, he hoped some of them would take it, be he could think of a few that wouldn't. "What's next?"

"Unfortunately we can't just throw you off the deep end. You're going to need all the help you can get in both equipment and abilities. First we'll send you to place that'll teach you all you need to know how to survive, it'll also give you a taste of what will happen should you fail. If you can't survive there then you won't be any good to us. When you're ready one of us will come get you. It'll be hard but if you can make it, you'll have saved more lives than you ever thought possible."

Jason nodded. "Sounds like you have it all planned out."

"We've had a lot of time, Jason, we're just making sure all our bases are covered." Order said. "I wish you luck Jason. Hopefully we'll figure out who's behind all this before what ever they're planning comes to fruition."

"A word of advise Jason, you will need to steel yourself, this path you have chosen it will not be easy or quick. It could be decades before you get the chance to live peacefully again."

Jason felt a grim smile spread across his face, and with a solemn voice said, "I will always place the mission first, I will never accept defeat, I will never quit, I will never leave a fallen comrade. If this is what I am called to do the so be it I will do my duty to my people." And he meant it. Jason had spoken with a few Army old timers back in the day. They had told him about how it would take a special person to commit themselves to a lifetime of fighting, and that he'd know if he was one of those people when the time came. Most people would think him crazy for volunteering in such a situation, but Jason knew that if he didn't at least try and figure out was going on his old man would kick his ass.

Entropy nodded, "Alright then, let's get started." In a flash Jason was gone off to fight. "I hope that boy has the strength to face what's coming."

"He's certainly committed." Order said. "I swear you almost looked ready to join him after that little speech."

"And why not! All this subterfuge is driving me mad. While we play shadow games, worlds are burring!" Entropy growled.

Order gave him a pitying look, she had long since forgiven him about the star so many years ago, "You know why my love. This is the best we can do, for now."

"You know with this we just declared war." Entropy said.

"I know, but it'll take time for the other faction to realize it, but when they do, we will be wrath and fury. Have pity for those that have done this, they will pay a thousand fold for each world they have burned." Entropy shuddered at Order's tone. Looking in her eyes he saw a righteous anger waiting to be unleashed.

"Then let us hope our agent learns something soon."

"But first he must be prepared, let's hope he stands up to the challenge." Order said. "Now, we need move quickly onto the next planet. There is much work to do and we need to seed as many agents as possible before they enemy get's wind of us."

_**"**__**I will always place the mission first, I will never accept defeat, I will never quit, I will never leave a fallen comrade. "**_

"Guardian."

"Time to wake up Guardian."

Jason's eye's snapped open and he quickly sat up. "Oh crap." He said. Less than an hour ago he was a corporal in the United States Army. Most civilians operate under the assumption that Army guys never get a break that they're always on the clock. Sometimes that's true, but for the most part the Army works just like any other job, you do get days off from time to time, the only difference is you have to stay close to base a lot of the time, that means you get a lot of bored guys with money to spend and nothing to do. Most end up buying an Xbox or something. Jason was no exception, so when he saw the iconic shape of a Ghost in front of him he couldn't help but say, "Ah crap, it's the Dinklebot."

_**"**__**I will always place the mission first, I will never accept defeat, I will never quit, I will never leave a fallen comrade. "**_

"Alright Ghost." Jason said, "Where does the Speaker want to send us now?" Jason had learned long ago the Ghost did not in fact like being called 'Dinklebot'.

"To the moon." Ghost said. "We've picked up a signal coming from the surface. The Speaker has already sent two guardians ahead of us. They stopped reporting in soon after they got there. Rather than lose anyone else he wants us to take care of it."

"Sounds like fun, how come we get all the crazy assignments." Jason complained.

Ghost blinked at him, a feat which had unnerved Jason the first time he had seen it. "You know why. He trusts you. He knows you can help."

Jason sighed, "You know that's not true Ghost. It's been six years since Order and Entropy sent me here. They told me that this was just the first step of my journey. That I'd gain the ability, equipment, and skills necessary to help me on the next step. Sure I've helped win a few battles, but nothing's changed. Earth still belongs to the Fallen, the Hive control the Moon, the Vex are doing whatever the hell it is they do on Venus, and the Cabal have turned Mars into a fortress."

"That's true but the weapon designs you've helped create have been a boon for the City. Our walls are more secured that ever, and you've led the push for us to start attempting to retake our old territory. Don't sell yourself short."

"Maybe." Jason said, not believing it for a minuet. When Jason had gotten to the City he'd been appalled at the way the security of the Walls had been run. The first thing he'd done was show the Guardians and the City how to properly design and man a fixed gun emplacement. He'd learned, to his shock, about a hundred years ago the City almost fell to the Fallen because they didn't have adequate defenses in place. Jason had done his best to impersonate the wrath of every drill Sargent he'd ever met. Five minuets later he'd been told that if he felt so strongly about it then he could fix the problem. A year later and the City walls were a mass of artillery, mortar, and machine gun nests. He almost felt sorry for the poor bastards that tried to take the walls next time, almost.

After that Jason had gone to the Speaker and told him everything. He told him about Order and Entropy and why they sent him here. He told him about his time in the Army and how where he came from this was all a game (He'd made a note to ask Order about that next time he saw her, but in six years she hadn't shown up once) and how in two hundred years the Darkness would return, and unless they did something chances were the City would fall.

The next day the Speaker pulled Jason and a number of other Guardians off the walls and sent them out to start exploring and start taking back their old territory. Soon enough the Walls were manned by volunteers from the City and every Guardian was out fighting. Over six years Jason had fought on Earth, Venus, and Mars, but this was the first time he'd be going to the Moon.

"So who did the Speaker send before us?" Jason asked Ghost.

"Tera 985 and Joran Tel." Ghost answered.

Jason stiffened at the names, he knew both of those Guardian personally, "Alright Ghost. Take us to the Moon." Jason felt the vibrations shift in his seat as Ghost put more power to the rear thrusters. Jason had found his jump ship in what was once northern Ireland, and had spent the better part of year scrounging for parts. When the clouds parted and they exited the atmosphere Jason felt a slight twinge of nausea as the warp drive kicked in jumping him to the moon in a matter of minuets.

Jason checked his weapons one last time before hopping on his sparrow. His shotgun was a masterpiece, a Guardian had built if for him years ago after describing called the Kal Tech KSG which he'd seen pictures of way back in the day. The ten gauge pump action fired modified four and half inch magnum rounds. Instead of gun powder the shells were filled with some kind of oxygenated jell that was ten times more effective, and the best part was the jell let him fire the gun in a vacuum or low oxygen environment. Jason was pleased to learn that guns did actually work in space and not just because Bungie said so.

At his hip was an old Desert Eagle 50 AE he'd found just last week. The thumb sized bullets had been difficult to make, but now that he had and Ghost had a pattern to follow, if he ever ran out all Ghost had to do would be to transmat him some more. This would be his first time taking the gun into the field.

"I'm dropping a beacon on your HUD. It should lead you right to where we lost contact with the other Guardians." Jason nodded and took off across the lunar landscape.

As he traveled Jason could help but feel uneasy. In space there is no sound. He could feel the sparrow underneath him, and he knew from experience that it made a lot of noise, but if felt like he had cotton stuffed in his ears. The loss of one of his primary senses kept him on his tows. "Ghost I'm not seeing any Hive."

"I know it's strange. Reports from right after the Collapse state that there were enough Hive on the moon the they could bee seen from Earth."

"Then where'd they go?" Jason asked.

"If we knew that we wouldn't be here." Ghost said.

Jason slowed his mad dash and began scanning his surroundings. The last thing he wasted was to be surprised so far away from help. "How much further Ghost?"

"It should be just over the next ridge."

Jason stopped his sparrow and dismounted. He had Ghost store the bike back on the ship via transmat. With one quick check to make sure he could pull his pistol in a flash if he needed to, Jason slowly crawled his way up the ridge line. On the other side he saw the entrance to was appeared to be a box canyon. He scanned the cliff face for movement, the distinct lack of which served only to unnerve him more.

"Is this where you lost sight of the other's?" Jason asked.

"Yes. They must have gone in." Ghost scanned the two distinct sets of boot prints. Noting the distinct lack of a returning set. "I don't like it."

"Agreed. Keep you eye peeled."

Jason stood up and slowly made his way into the box canyon. He scanned every blind spot. It wasn't to long before he felt something like an oppressive blanket thrown over him, smothering his Light. It was hard to describe what the Light felt like. For Jason it was some kind of Aura that came from his body, it empowered his movements and muscles, giving him near superhuman reflexes and strength. If he focused he could use his Light to send out a shockwave blasting nearby enemies back killing all but the strongest, or he could throw it like a grenade blinding his opponents. Each of the different classification of Guardians used the light in their own unique way, Titans like himself specialized in strengthening their bodies to the point that they were walking tanks. Coincidentally they also made excellent shock troops. Normally his Light flowed freely, but now it felt like he was trying to walk through water, or breath through a thick mask. He could still use it, but it would require more effort.

"Darkness zone." He muttered.

"That explains it." Ghost said.

Darkness zones were the most dangerous places a Guardian could go. Anywhere else and Guardians could be considered invincible, if they died their Ghost could store their Light until a new body could be transmated down to them, in a Darkness zone that wasn't possible. There was some kind of jamming effect that interfered with a Ghost's ability to store Light.

Following the tracks of his comrades Jason soon enough found his way to a some kind of chamber. The walls of the canyon opened up into a massive square. Jason eyed the area with distain there was absolutely no cover out there. If the hive showed up he would be hard pressed to get back to where he stood where at least the close proximity of the walls would provide him with some cover.

"There they are!" Ghost called out. Sure enough Jason could see the bodies of his two friends out in the middle of the square. "You're going out their aren't you?"

Jason glared at Ghost through his helmet.

"Okay. Okay. I'm sorry I asked." Ghost suddenly came flying at him and they became one. Jason could feel Ghost's consciousness bush up against him. _/Be careful out there. Even I can tell this is a set up./ _

"I will old friend." Jason stood up and walked out into the square. He didn't bother trying to cover himself. If the enemy came he'd see them coming with enough time to react. When he reached to bodies rolled them over to look at what had killed them. Both of them had had their chests torn apart. He looked at the fallen Ghosts and pulled his hands back. Suddenly an orb of Light appeared in each of his hands. He always felt a rush when he used his Light. He fed the light into the Ghosts and with a twitch they both revived. They floated up with a flash they were gone, off to look for new Guardians.

_/Let's see if we can find out what killed them./ _As soon as Ghost finished speaking, Jason was thrown to the ground.

"You had to jinx it!" Jason shouted. He picked up his shotgun and scanned for enemies what he saw made the blood drain from his face. All around him the walls of the square were moving aside revealing dozens of Hive dropships. Along with hundreds of Hive warriors. He could see Thralls, Acolytes, and Knights. He could count at least a half dozen Wizards and two Ogres.

"Crap." Jason took of running with out a seconds hesitation. He knew the enemy was hot on his heels. He'd fought the Hive before, normally their charges are accompanied by the shriek of their undead warriors, but all Jason heard was silence.

A group of Thralls managed to get ahead of him attempting to cut him off before he could make it back to the narrow canyon walls. If he got bogged down fighting them Jason knew he wouldn't make it. With out a seconds hesitation he leaped into the air and crashed down punching the ground releasing a shockwave of Light in the classic 'Fists of Havoc' move. With out missing a beat he stood up and continued running. He feathered the trigger on his KSG putting the one Thrall that managed to survive out of its misery as he ran past.

_/What ever you do don't stop running! As soon as we're clear I'll have the ship pick us up!/_ Ghost yelled. Jason didn't bother answering him and instead focused on running. Now more than ever he wished he had been a Hunter, some of those guys could sprint upwards of forty miles per hour in good terrain. What Jason lacked in raw speed he made up for in tenacity. A few times he felt the long fingered claws of a Thrall warrior on his back, rather than fight it he just tore free and continued running. When he felt the pack was closing in on him Jason dropped a Light grenade at his feet.

The first skill most Guardians learned was to generate a ball of Light. From there it wasn't much of a stretch to learn how to throw the highly unstable ball of energy, when done so at enemies it could realistically be called a grenade. The first grenades most guardians used were pretty simple, like Jason's own flash-bang. With practice more complex and devastating grenades could be made. The one that Jason just used was an example of the latter, the orb of Light shattered and bolts of electricity scythed through the Hive troops buying him the time he needed to escape.

"Ghost give me the launcher!" Suddenly the shogun in his hands disappeared in a flash of light and rocket launcher replaced it. As beautiful as it was deadly the launcher was covered in reliefs of wolf carvings and pictures depicting a hunting pack of wolves. The barrel was mounted coming out the mouth of a massive wolf. At the top of the ridge Jason stopped and spun around. Firing three quick shots in rapid succession each rocket split into four others. The mouth of the canyon blossomed into fire and Hive warriors died in droves. Jason calmly raised the bird to the encroaching hoard.

In a flash he was gone and the Hive trampled over each other in an attempt to find a Guardian that was no longer there.

_**"**__**I will always place the mission first, I will never accept defeat, I will never quit, I will never leave a fallen comrade. "**_

"Hello Jason. You look well." Even though it was a voice he hadn't heard in over six years, Jason recognized it instantly.

"Hello Order." He gave her a cool smile. "I see you've finally decided to stop wasting time." Jason couldn't keep the bitterness out of his voice when he spoke to her.

"Now now Jason we told you that you would need the time and experience before you were ready."

"Six years!" Jason shouted. _/Quantum displacement detected. Guardian, Jason, what's going on? I've having trouble finding out where I am./ _Jason took a deep breath after realizing Ghost was still there, he had half expected him to be gone. "Ghost this is Order. I told you about her before."

_/I remember. So what's going on?/_

"I'll tell you as soon as I find out myself." Jason said leveling a glare at Order.

"Jason, when we first sent you away, how long was it before you died. How long did it take for you to survive a week with out dying, a year? Believe me Jason, if we were not running out of time I would have left you there for another six years, but you are needed now. Something has forced our hand. Entropy's had to get involved personally, leaving me to continue operating in the shadows."

"What happened?" Jason asked.

"We told you that Earth is a nexus remember, well its not the only one. There are dozens just like it. All of which are under attack. He's out fighting on another planet."

Jason hung his head, it had been six years. He had forgotten the bigger picture, but seeing Order again brought it all back, "I'm sorry. It's been a long six years."

She smiled at him, "It's alright Jason."

"Why video games?" He asked suddenly.

She shrugged, "We needed a way to make people aware of the different universes that would be accepted with out much criticism. Showing them as a world of fiction has been the most successful means to date."

"So what's the next step?" Ghost asked suddenly appearing. "I got tired of just listening." He said apologetically.

"Ah, such a wonderful creation. Your father was marvelous you know? I'm sorry about what happened to him." Order said looking Ghost.

"You knew the Traveler?" Jason asked.

"Of course, he was one of our agents just like you are Jason. He failed to protect humanity, but in the end he gave them a chance at redemption." Order said. "Little Light, I'm afraid I must ask you something very hard. I need you to leave your Traveler, I need you to go with Jason on his journey. If he is to have a chance of saving the next Earth he is going to need your help. I promise I'll do what I can to try and help the Traveler when I can in return."

Ghost's eye dimmed in sadness and he sunk down a few inches, "I understand. I always dreamed that one day I would see the Traveler awaken and humanity rise again, but I am bound to my Guardian."

Jason felt his throat tighten. Six years of constant combat had formed a strong bond between himself and Ghost. Jason might be a man of few words but he had grown fond of Ghosts company, just knowing he wouldn't be facing the Darkness alone had been to only thing that kept him going sometimes. "Thank you Ghost."

Ghost turned back to him. "What else could I do."

Order smiled at the two fighters. "Then it's time you move on Jason, Ghost. Don't worry about your ship or equipment I'll take care of that. Good luck you two. I'll keep in touch when I can."

And once again Jason, this time with the company of his Ghost, were sped off across the multiverse.

"You should see him Entropy. He looks good. Hell, he's everything you said he would be and he's still growing. They both are. He might just pull this off. Hurry my love. There's a war to plan." And with that the being known as Order left the space between universes.

_**"**__**I will always place the mission first, I will never accept defeat, I will never quit, I will never leave a fallen comrade. "**_

"Guardian!"

"Guardian! Wake up!"

Jason snapped up right in an instant shotgun drawn.

"Guardian where are we?" Jason could hear the fear in Ghost's voice. "I'm scanning for known constellation's but I can't find any. Also the gravity and atmospheric composition are not matching up with any planet in the home system."

"Don't worry Ghost. We'll figure it out together. Can you contact the ship?" Jason asked.

"Yes I can. I also have access to the ships transmat. Do you want me to bring you the sparrow?"

Jason looked around. He was in some kind of forest, but he didn't recognize the trees. And the blood red sky was a little disconcerting. The sparrow would do him little good here. He'd more likely break his neck hitting a tree than anything else. "No. I'll head out on foot. Let's get to high ground."

It didn't take long for Jason to reach a clearing of sorts when he got there the shotgun fell numbly from his hand. "We are so screwed." He said.

"What is that!" Ghost called out.

"Ghost you can stop looking for where we are. I know exactly where we are." Jason said in a whisper. It might have been a few years, but he knew exactly what that thing off in the distance was. "We're at Eden Prime, Utopia system, Exodus Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy, and that is a Reaper."

**A/N: Wow that was fun to write. The Kal Tech KSG is a real gun by the way, you should look it up to see how awesome it is. Trust me you won't be dissapointed. The Next chapter will take us all the way to through the Eden Prime mission. Tune in next time folks!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Wow it's one in the morning and I have to be up at seven tomorrow, but it was worth staying up to get the next chapter posted. This story is rated M for violence, language, and other stuff. If you have a problem with that them please don't feel bad about not reading. I want to make this story dark. Jason and Shepard are going to have to face some pretty impossible odds and I want the mood of this story to reflect that. That said. I would really, really like a BETA. going back over Chapter One i've already found a few typo's that I missed and I'm going to have some in here as well. Please review and comment I love feed back.**

**UPDATE 1/27/2015: Once again I have my beta DivineWhisperV2 for editing this chapter for me. Asking me the question that I never though of, correcting my grammar and spelling, and making awesome suggestions of EPIC proportions!**

**Chapter 2: Long Day.**

Jason grit his teeth at the sight before him, now the blood red sky made sense. He could see fire raining down on what looked like a small city or a large town. That must be the colony proper.

"Guardian . . . Jason what's going on?"

"Remember how I knew that you were a Ghost before you even told me, and I knew about the Last City, and the Darkness, well this is just another example of the universes sense of humor." Jason sighed. "You see that thing over there, Ghost. That's a Reaper, right now there are tens of thousands of them waiting in the dark space, and if they're not stopped it won't just be Earth, but dozens of worlds, that burn."

Ghost was silent for a minute, "What are we going to do?"

Jason looked over at his friend. Over the past six years Ghost had become his closest companion. Jason could hear the fear in his voice, even though he looked artificial, Ghost was a living person. He had fears just like everyone else. After all Ghost just been ripped from everything he'd known and thrown in an unbelievable situation, Jason could relate. "We're going to fight. We're going to defend humanity and were going to make sure Shepard survives."

"Who's Shepard?" Ghost asked.

"I'll explain later, but right now we need to make our way to either the dig site or the secondary space port. Let's go see if we can find a terminal you can plug into. You still hooked up to the ship?"

"Yes." Ghost said. "Transmat is fully operational, would you like your usual loadout?"

"Please." Jason felt the familiar weight of his shotgun on his back and pistol on his hip, as Ghost merged with him.

_/So what now?/_ Ghost asked as Jason tore through the woods.

"There's a team of Alliance marines that'll be on the planet soon, if they're not here already. We need to hook up with them. The Commander's name is Shepard. He or she'll be the one we need to help, they're the only chance we have at winning this fight."

_/He or she? I thought you knew what was going to happen?/_

"Remember this is- was a game for me. There were a lot of possible backgrounds Shepard could have. Male, female, orphan, or navy brat. I won't know more until we meet them, the important part will be convincing them to let us join their crew."

_/Could we just tell them the truth?/_

"Definitely not the whole truth, maybe a part of it and we'll have to come up with a plausible cover for some parts. We'll have to have something to back up our story."

_/I can think of a few things./_

"So can I, the one thing I'm worried about is our guns though." Jason with concern.

_/What do you mean?/_

"Well here chemical propellant based slug throwers are kind of ancient by some standards, almost a thousand years to some people."

Ghost whistled.

"Although that might work in our favor, we'll have to see." Suddenly Jason spotted movement up ahead.

_/I'm not detecting any life signs. Assume artificial life form./_

"Roger." Jason whispered. He peaked around the tree he was hiding behind. Sure enough there was a four man Geth patrol up in front of him.

He pulled his left hand back and primed his grenade, a flash bang this time, and threw the orb of light right in the middle of their formation. The resulting explosion didn't just generate a brilliant light, and loud noise, it radiated a massive amount of electromagnetic interference temporarily scrambling the Geth processors causing them to stumble around drunkenly while they reboot their higher processes.

Jason himself was practically immune to such effects. He sprinted out from cover firing as he went. He put two rounds into the lead Geth, as he suspected the slower rounds completely bypassed the Geth's kinetic barriers punching two fist size holes into the Geth's torso.

Jason gave a savage grin. The second Geth in line was clotheslined into the ground. Picking his armored boot up he smashed his enhanced strength into the Geth's eye stalk, he fired a round into the things chest for good measure. Unfortunately now he had his back turned to the two remaining Geth, who had managed to shake off the effects of his grenade. He spun drawing his pistol, the gun barked four times in the space of a heartbeat, and the third Geth fell with a significant portion of its head missing and two holes in its chest.

Jason was suddenly rocked back as a burst of high velocity bullets the size of a grain of sand impacted his chest plate. Titan armor was made with the intent of turning the wearer into a walking fortress, and with the augmented strength that Titan's enjoyed that meant the ultra-high density plates were thick and covered almost every part of Jason's body. The one vulnerable part was the helmet. The ballistic shield was designed to stop shrapnel and hold in air in a vacuum, not stop hyper velocity bullets moving at a few percent light speed. The second burst caught Jason right in the visor by the time the third and fourth rounds hit him Jason was already dead. His body collapsed lifeless to the ground.

The final Geth unit approached the human body without fear. Its advanced battle sensors told it that there were no other humans in the area and that it had no reason to be cautious. This particular Geth unit had one hundred twenty-eight programs installed on it. So when the body of the human disappeared in a flash of light it paused to reach consensus. It was still trying to do so when the human suddenly reappeared in another flash of light. The Geth programs inside of it queried for more data at an alarming rate, so much so that the units processors were overcome. Auto-fail-safe's kicked in and the Geth shutdown in an attempt to keep its data storage hardware intact, i.e. the Geth programs on board.

_/Did that thing just . . . faint?/_

"Uhmm I think so." Jason said. He was truly at a loss he had never heard of something happening like this in the game. He shrugged, "Oh well." He lowered his shotgun and put two rounds into the robots chest. "One less to worry about."

Ghost split from him and scanned the ruined Geth platform. "Interesting." Looking over at Jason he asked, "Jason, what are these things?"

"They're called Geth. Originally they were a group of adaptable learning programs that spontaneously gained self-awareness. They were created by a race called the Quarians."

"Their neuro synthetic musculature is quite advanced. Even more so than the Exo's back home." Ghost said as they merged once more.

"Thought the Exo's were supposed to be hyper advanced?"

_/They are, but Exo's use servo driven motors rather than neuro synthetic pneumatic muscles. Over all the Exo's are more advanced but they use the servos because they're more reliable in the long run./_

Jason was pleased to see that his weapons had worked like a charm. He quickly reloaded both his shotgun and his pistol, his armor had performed adequately, but he needed some form of protection for his head and the soft spots that every suit of armor had, maybe he could jury rig some kinetic barriers in it. He'd loath to have to get rid of the suit, he was damn proud of it having spent several month putting it together himself, and he'd had it painted not too long ago. It was matte grey with red details. His helmet had a spike jutting from the forehead that he'd used more than once in a head-butt and the collar had a nice fur lining that he thought looked awesome.

"We need to keep moving." He said.

_/At least they're not-/_

"Don't finish that sentence. Please. Don't you know it's just asking for trouble?"

_/Right./_

It didn't take long before Jason came across a road. It was little more than gravel and dirt but it had to be well traveled judging by the deepness of the ruts. "What do you think left or right?" he asked Ghost.

_/Left will take us closer to the town we saw earlier. Go right, I'd assume the dig site would be further from the city not closer./_

"Agreed." Jason spun on his heel and took off at a dead sprint down the road. Hoping that he'd run into Shepard soon

**"I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade."**

"Kaiden look left, they're trying to flank us. Get your head out your ass and shoot them!" Commander Kara Shepard was having a really bad day. She hadn't been on this op for more than ten minutes before one of her marines had died in an ambush. Not a good start for someone who was supposed to be humanity's first Spectre. Luckily they'd gotten a replacement.

Kara watched Ashley Williams methodically plug Geth after Geth with her assault rifle. Compared to that love drunk, puppy Kaiden, Ashley was a God send. How the hell she was still stuck in colony garrison post was beyond Shepard.

They were currently trying to clear the dig site of Geth. It had been going well until she had tried closing with Geth to fight them, that's when Kaiden decided to cover her with a sniper rifle, which he was absolutely useless with. Granted he hit more times than he missed, but Shepard had worked with good snipers before and the difference was remarkably apparent.

Somehow, between Shepard and Ashley they managed to thin out the Geth enough that they couldn't be overrun. The last one fell in a shower of sparks and hydraulic fluid from Shepard's shotgun. Turning on her heel, she stomped up to Kaiden.

"Lieutenant, what the hell was that?" she growled quietly.

"Ma'am?" he asked.

"Kaiden you damn near got everyone on this squad killed. You have no skill with that sniper yet you insisted on taking it with you and trying to use it. You completely lost sight of everything going on around you. We were damn near overrun because your side of our battle line was week!" Shepard had to struggle to not scream in frustration, it wouldn't be good to chew out her lieutenant in front of a sergeant like Ashley.

"When you rushed the enemy I decided that it would be best to fall back and provide you with covering fire ma'am." The young lieutenant said.

Shepard could feel her molars creak, "Kaiden, next time stick to your field of fire. I can handle myself. I'm a Vanguard for crying out loud. It's my job to close ranks with the enemy!" Shepard let out a breath and turned away. Ever since she'd told him about what happened to her on Torfan, Kaidan had acted like it was his job to protect her. She knew why he did it of course, it didn't take a genius to see he liked her, even though she'd never encouraged it. Hell, she'd gone out of her way to drop hints that she wasn't interested, but the guy was relentless.

"Williams, this is the dig site. Where's my beacon?" She asked.

"I saw it here earlier this morning Commander. Best guess, the Geth must have moved it already." Ashley stood up after picking up what remained of one of the Geth assault rifles. "Damn these things hit hard. Wish I could get tech like this." she said under her breath.

"What makes you think the Geth moved it?" Shepard asked.

"Local garrison commander was adamant about that. The Beacon wasn't to be moved until the retrieval team got here. I argued to have it moved to a secure warehouse, but he shot me down." She spat.

"Bitter much?" Shepard remarked.

"A little yeah." Ashley said. "Camp site's just up ahead Commander. We should head there."

"Team, let's go." Shepard called out, mostly to get Kaiden's attention. Her three man fire team began climbing out of the dig site. Suddenly Shepard's ears perked at the sound of gunfire. "Civilian."

"How can you tell?" Ashley asked.

"My parent's used to own a couple of old slug throwers. They sound different from mass effect based weaponry." Shepard sprinted ahead up the path. Whoever was fighting either they were shooting desperately or very good at using a shotgun, she guessed by how quickly the gun fired.

When she reached the top she stopped and watched with a grin on her face at the savagery unfolding before her.

**"I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade."**

Jason had reached the camp site. The road he had been following must have been a supply route to the campsite. Originally he had been afraid that he might have missed Commander Shepard, but the Husk topped Dragon's Teeth told him otherwise.

_/Jason be careful. Those things are Darkness./_

Jason froze in his tracks. "Are you sure?" He asked quietly.

_/Quite sure. I wasn't getting it off those 'Geth' earlier, but whatever these things are, they're Darkness./_

Jason kept a wary eye on the Husks. They were horrifying. He could see pieces of decrepit flesh stuck to their bodies. He shuddered, something he hadn't done in years. If they were creatures of Darkness than that meant in large enough quantities they could create a Darkness Zone which would be very dangerous for him. Suddenly he heard the report of several gunshots.

"That must be Shepard and the team." He said.

_/What makes you say that?/_

"In the games Shepard lands past the dig site and fights up to it. When they get there they move on to the research camp and get ambushed." Jason said.

_/Really? Ambushed you say?/_

Jason picked up Ghost's tone. "They're moving aren't they?" He spun around and sure enough the Dragon's Teeth were lowering. It was then he noticed something, something that should have been painfully obvious. There were a lot of Husks. In the game Shepard was only ambushed by four or five Husks. Right now there had to be at least thirty Dragons Teeth, and even though not all of them had a techno zombie corpse stuck to it most of them did. "Crap."

_The shotgun is fully loaded that gives me fifteen shots, the pistol has another six with one in the chamber, even if they go down after one hit that still leaves me a few short._ He thought to himself. Without thinking he threw another grenade in the middle of the mob coming at him. It exploded in a ball of lightning, Jason noted that it didn't seem to do much damage but it did make the Husks twitch uncontrollably for a bit buying him time.

Jason leveled his shotgun, memories of the Hive troops rushing him came flooding to his mind. He squeezed the trigger. A Husk's head exploded spraying his fellows in blue glowing cybernetics. Time seemed to slow as Jason worked the action ejecting the spent shell and moving on to the next Husk. This time Jason shot it in the chest. The Husk didn't die but one of its arms was torn off by the blast. It was still coming for him, but it was slowed significantly.

The next few seconds were a blur as Jason fired off round after round from his KSG. At fifteen shots he threw the gun up over his shoulder, but he wasn't fast enough to get the pistol up in front of him before a Husk was on him. His left fist punched out with enough force to send the creature flying back knocking three others over. He didn't want to use the Storm Fist here, opting instead to just knock his target into the others to buy him time instead. He hadn't been touched yet, but Jason could see the claws these things had at their fingertips, he knew he was losing ground. The area was filled with dead body's one wrong misstep and he would be swarmed.

Leveling his sidearm he pulled the trigger as fast as he could and three other husks joined the bodies on the ground. He thumbed the magazine release and shoved a fresh clip in, but it wasn't fast enough. A Husk had latched its teeth on his arm. With his free hand Jason smashed his fist into the Husk's head pulping it.

Suddenly neon blue orb flew past him and slammed into the next husk sending it flying back. He turned and saw a woman with fiery red hair standing a ways behind him. She held a shotgun in her right hand and her left was raised in a fist. The ethereal blue glow of dark energy surrounded her and she unleashed another biotic throw. This time on Jason's other side knocking the Husks back and giving him breathing room.

Jason spun around holstering his pistol and pulling his empty shotgun from his back. He knelt down and started reloading his gun. Jason's movements were fluid and precise. Most people see reloading a shotgun as slow and ponderous making them less than ideal for combat, but with practice someone could get very good at it. For Jason practice wasn't an option, but a necessity of life.

**"I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade."**

Commander Shepard watched in awe as the man's hand became a blur, loading round after round into the gun. The savage cries of the Husks brought her attention back up. She couldn't afford to worry about the man who decided to go into battle armed only with a pair of antiques. She needed to do something about these creatures first.

She ran to the edge of the camp, using her biotics to push back more of those things. When she drew up even with the man he stood up having fully loaded his shotgun. They were sprinting right beside each other into the crowd of Husks. Then her new friend pulled ahead of her, ribbons of light began to form around him and at the last possible second he lowered his shoulder. With an almighty crack the lead husk snapped in half and the four behind it were knocked off their feet.

Kara's eyes widened. _Some kind of primitive biotic charge. Not as effective as an Asari's, but still useful._ She thought not understanding that the light coming off Jason's body was not from biotics but something far more rare and versatile. She and Jason stood side by side and fired into the knocked down husks shredding them. Kara flicked her eyes up, there were six more Husks left. She brought her gun up and shot the first one directly in the chest, but before she could continue her traitorous weapon, started screaming at her telling her she had overheated it. Shepard swore under her breath.

"Catch!"

Acting on instinct Shepard reached out and snagged the pistol the man had thrown to her out of the air. Unlike most people Shepard knew what to do with an old school firearm. Her father had shown her his collection back when she turned fourteen. She had been a pretty handy shot too.

Kara thumbed the mechanical safety and lined up the sights in a two handed stance, legs slightly spread. She pulled the trigger and felt the recoil all the way up her arm. _Kicks like a Krogan!_ Shepard and Jason worked together and soon enough the husks were all dead.

For the first time Kara got a chance to look at the man. He was dressed head to toe in some of the most outlandish armor she had ever seen. Thick slabs of metal plates covered his entire body and some sort of bladed spike jutted from the helmet. He wore a sash around his waist, and she could make out the symbol of a black wolf done in a tribal pattern on the red cloth. The one thing that really unnerved her though, was the silver face mask that let her see her own reflection in it.

**"I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade."**

"What's your name?" Jason looked at the Commander. She looked like the typical female Shepard from Mass Effect three. With the exception of a couple of scars on her face, nothing too severe, but it did add a level of fierceness to her. Her hair wasn't just red it was downright copper. She was wearing the typical form fitting suit of N7 armor, with just enough plates to protect her without sacrificing movement. Combined with her use of a shotgun and biotics and Jason guessed she was a Vanguard.

"Jason Shaw." He said._ /Well, we're here. I hope you've thought of something./_

"I'm Commander Shepard Alliance marines." Kara looked around at all the dead husks. There were a lot of bodies around them, way more than she had killed. "Fine shooting here Jason. Where'd you learn?"

Jason shrugged and began reloading his shotgun again, "My dad taught me and my brothers when we were little. He used to take us hunting when we were younger." That at least was true. The beginnings of a plan were starting to form in his head. All he had to do was get her to trust him without asking too many personal question before he had a chance to prove he wasn't from around here and it would be alright.

"Holy crap Commander. You do all this?" Ashley and Kaidan had finally decided to join them in the camp.

Kara shook her head, "Some, but he did most of it." She said nodding to Jason. "Jason meet Sgt. Ashley Williams and Lt. Kaidan Alenko." Jason nodded to each of them.

"Who are you?" Jason saw Kaiden glaring at him underneath his helmet. A simple question made oh so difficult by unbelievable circumstances.

"Your new squad mate, so play nice." Jason did a double take, just like that he was already part of the squad.

"Commander we're on a top secret mission for the Council, are you sure we should just trust a random mercenary with that kind of information?" Kaiden asked.

Jason flinched at the word mercenary. He'd never been a mercenary in his entire life. Before becoming a Titan, he'd fought for Duty, Honor, and Country. As a Guardian he served with honor and distinction as the last hope of a dying people. His whole life he'd put his life on the line for others, not because he was getting paid, but because it was the right thing to do. Jason growled at the lieutenant.

Shepard chuckled as Kaiden flinched. "Jason, he didn't mean anything by it. Kaiden, this mission went to hell before it even started, so yes I'm going to take whatever resources the universe gives me and put them to good use. Besides, unconventional as they are, his weapons are uniquely suited to fighting the Geth. Their kinetic barriers are the strongest I've ever seen on front line combat troops. We need his help if we're going to find the beacon."

Kaiden finally nodded at Shepard's answer, accepting the decision of his commanding officer. Jason couldn't believe his luck. He was in. Now all he needed to do was convince her that he was from the Destiny universe and he'd be golden (He figured trying to tell Shepard that he was originally from a place where Mass Effect and Destiny were video games and that he had been chosen by two inter dimensional beings and sent here to help her would be a good way to get a bullet between the eye's, if only to ensure his insanity didn't infect others around him).

Shepard locked eyes with him. "I don't care what you're doing here. I promise, you work for me and help me out here I'll get you whatever you want, within reason."

Jason smiled, he had to admit he liked Shepard's pragmatism, "You promise to answer my questions when this is all over and we'll call it even."

Shepard cocked her head and raised her eyebrow, "That's it? Alliance has a pretty good rewards program for security contractors that help them out in a situations like this."

"Commander it's been a weird day. You answer my questions and I'll answer yours. I figure when this is all over you'll have some of your own." Jason watched as Shepard processed what he just said. Either he just set off her bullshit meter or she was thinking he might have an interesting story to tell. He hoped for the later, because the former was likely to get him shot.

"Okay Jason." Her tone was suddenly cautious. She held up his gun, the pistol he had thrown to her in the middle of the fight. "I'm holding on to this though."

Jason chuckled and unbuckled the hip holster and all the spare magazines he had for the gun and wordlessly handed them over. "Keep it Commander. I've got a spare." Jason reached behind his back and pulled out his knife. The Hunter's might hold the honor of being the most deadly Guardians with a knife, but Jason had learned long ago you could never have enough backups.

"That . . . that's not a knife that's a sword." Ashley said.

Jason couldn't disagree.

"Alright team. New battle formation. Jason you're with me up front. Let's put that monster you call a shotgun to work. Ash you cover us with your rifle. Kaiden stay with her and watch _her_ back. Let's clear the camp and try to find out what happened to the beacon." Jason couldn't help but pick up Shepard's tone when she addressed Kaiden.

"HUA! Commander." Jason couldn't help but grin. Shepard might be a marine, but it was still good to be finally working with professionals from the Armed Forces again. He leveled his gun and started working his way in to the center of the camp.

**"I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade."**

Shepard watched as Jason moved into the camp. Something about the man was . . . weird. Everything from his armor, which looked like something a Krogan might enjoy, to his weapons, which again Krogan, had this hard edge to them. She'd seen it before, people who'd seen too much combat, it changed them turned them into something not entirely human, something that was part monster. Hell, she'd been there. It almost ruined her career, and would have if not for Captain Anderson.

She sprinted to catch up to Jason. Together they checked each other's blind spots and cleared the camp. They didn't find any Geth, instead they found the researchers. Most were not a pretty sight. Just as Shepard was about to give up hope on finding any survivors, Jason held up his fist signaling everyone to stop.

"What have you got?" Shepard whispered. Movement and noise coming from that trailer." Jason whispered pointing. "The one with all the scratch marks."

Shepard peered around the massive shoulder, but she didn't see or hear anything. "You sure?"

Jason nodded and pointed to his chest in response, then across to the door of the trailer. Then he held up a fist and made a pumping motion. Shepard raised an eyebrow, no one used old school hand signals now a days. Soldiers communicated over encrypted com frequencies via omni tool. They only reason you would use hand signals is if you didn't have one or you figured your com had been hacked. _Maybe he's as backwater as he looks. To not have an omni tool in today's era was almost unheard of._

Shepard reached up and grabbed Jason's shoulder in response. Jason held up three fingers and silently counted down to zero at zero he took off across the open space between the two trailers. When he got there he took up position and covered Shepard as she moved to join him.

This was the last trailer and nothing had jumped out at them so far. They finished securing the area before and moved up to the door.

"Alright Jason, let's see if you're right." Shepard said.

"No 'if' about it Commander. There's someone in here." Jason said.

"How do you know that? I can't hear anything, and the shutters are shut so tight you can barely see anything." Kaiden demanded.

Kara felt a little resentment at the lieutenants' tone, but she couldn't fault his logic. She was about to say something when Jason just sighed and kicked, _kicked_, the door off the trailer.

"What the hell!" Ash yelled.

Kara was about to join in with the sergeant when she heard whimpering inside the trailer. Shepard cautiously stuck her head inside the trailer and saw an elderly woman in a lab coat holding a pistol at the opening, behind her was an obviously terrified man.

"Oh thank God you're human." The woman said in obvious relief as she dropped the gun.

Shepard turned back and leveled her best glare, one that could scorch paint off a dreadnaught's hull and kill lesser men, at Jason. The cheeky bastard just shrugged and said, "You didn't believe me."

"We could have done it without terrifying to only two survivors." She said.

"Maybe, but I doubt it would be as quick." Six years as a Guardian had erased most of Jason's subdelty.

**"I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade."**

Jason watched as Shepard huffed and moved into the trailer to talk with Dr. Warren. He hadn't really noticed her, but Ghost had and told him. Hell after seeing all the bodies (which were most definitely not in the game) he almost expected Dr. Warren to be dead.

_/I don't think she likes you./_

"Who does?" Jason asked under his breath.

_/The lieutenant Kaiden, judging by how much he keeps looking at you./_

Jason had to resist the urge to sputter.

_/I'm hoping you have a plan for explain our presence here./_

"I do. Just stay hidden unless something drastic happens."

"Who are you talking to?" Jason turned around and saw Ashley Williams standing behind him.

"Myself. Just making notes. Helps keep me focused." He said.

Ashley just shrugged, "Whatever works for you."

"Those things from earlier were pretty nasty looking."

Jason could help but compare them to the Hive from Destiny. "Yeah, could be worse though."

Ashley just laughed, "How could cybernetic zombies get any worse?"

Jason looked at her, it was too hard to resist. "They could puke acid or something."

Ashley paled, apparently she hadn't thought of that. "You are seriously messed up."

Before he could answer Shepard called out. "Team let's go, beacon's been moved to the tram station. Let's move out!"

Jason took up his position with Shepard up front. It didn't take long for them to reach the tram station. Suddenly he heard a horrible roar.

"What the hell?"

"Is that- a ship!"

"My God. It's massive!"

As the team stared in awe of reaper as it left Jason felt a weight settle in his stomach. He watched as the ship slowly rose higher in the atmosphere, he was going to have to figure out a way to kill those things? Order and Entropy must be crazy, but what else could he do?

Jason kept listening for the sound of the gunshot that would signal Nihlus' death, but it never came. Jason was beginning to grow worried, but he couldn't think on that right now there were more Husks and Geth. "Contact front!"

A group of Husks came rushing at him, rather than waste the shells loaded in his shotgun, Jason opted to pull his knife and rushed into the crowd. He punched, kicked, and slashed his way through. Ducking and weaving underneath and around the claws. Shepard was right behind him. They worked well together. Jason kept the Husk off her while she went about the grisly task of killing the crippled and broken husks left in his wake.

Meanwhile Ashley and Kaidan were having problems.

"Damn these guys are tough!" Ashley yelled. "Lt. try overloading their shields!"

"I'm a little busy sergeant!" Kaidan said as he fired at two more Geth that were trying to flank them.

Ashley cursed as the five Geth she had been attempting to pin down started spreading out. "Lt. I need you now!"

Before the lieutenant could respond one of the Geth keeled over, Jason's knife buried in its chest. Suddenly the booming report of his shotgun joined the fray and the Geth that had been giving Ashley so much trouble started dropping like flies.

On the other side Shepard sprinted in close with the two remaining Geth drawing Jason's pistol as she did so. Rounds pinged off her kinetic barriers. She fired three shots in rapid succession, but before she could get the second Geth her armor's warning system came on telling her that her barriers were down. Flinching behind the rock, she cursed as hyper velocity rounds chipped away at her cover spraying her with sharp rocks. Before she could think of a way out of her situation she heard two booms of Jason's shotgun. Turning she saw the Geth's arms had been blown off leaving the torso to stand on a pair of legs. Shepard swore the Geth looked stupefied at its current situation. She walked up to it put the pistol to the Geth's head and pulled the trigger.

Click.

Shepard cursed. She fumbled with the magazine release before finally being able to reload the gun. When she finally got the gun reloaded she growled and shot the Geth twice.

"If you're going to use that gun commander, you need to learn to count your shots." Jason said shaking his head. Maybe giving her that gun had been a mistake. She had no experience with weapons like that in combat, but he had no way to say 'No' to her. A combination of prior military training and just downright fear of the look she given him made him hand it over without question.

"I just need a little practice." She defended.

"Yes sir." Jason agreed.

Shepard narrowed her eyes at him, like she was trying to decide if he had just insulted her or paid respect to her rank. "Come on people tram station is just ahead. From there it's a straight shot to the spaceport and the beacon."

As they approached the station Jason noted a very obvious lack of Nihlus' body. He was trying to recall everything that happens at this point in the game but it was proving difficult, it had been over six year since he'd played the game. His fingers mindlessly reloaded his gun. Right around here you would see Nihlus' body and over there would be the worker. Jason was scanning the crates when he saw a streak of red on the ground.

"Commander." He called out walking over to the red streak. What he found was Powell he'd been shot in the head and dragged back behind the crates.

"Danm." Ashley said softly.

"Nothing we can do for him now." The Commander said quietly. "We'll make the Geth pay for every death but before that we need to find that beacon."

Something wasn't right. Jason had seen something like this before back before he became a Guardian, back when he was serving as a soldier in Iraq. "This man wasn't killed by the Geth Commander." He said.

"What do you mean?" Shepard asked.

Jason pointed to very obvious bullet wound. "All the dead bodies we've found so far have been shot in the back. They were cut down while trying to run, this man was shot in the head, at close range. This wasn't a random act, this was an execution." Jason had seen this once in Iraq. Some Taliban extremist had captured a leader from one of the local villages that had been helping Americans. Jason and his team had found the body and it was in a very similar position like this.

Shepard looked at him for a few moments before turning to Kaiden, "See if you can get anything off his Omni tool. Maybe he recorded something."

"Aye aye Commander." Kaiden bent down and activated his omni tool.

Shepard approached Jason, "You ever see anything this bad before?" she asked.

Jason didn't have the heart to tell her that things were probably going to get a lot worse before the end. "Yes I have, but that's a story for another time Commander."

Before Shepard could respond, "Commander I think I got something." Everyone gathered around Kaiden's omni tool and watched a shaky video recorded by an obviously terrified Powell.

Saren stood in the middle of the loading platform. He was flanked by two Geth, and was waiting for Nihlus to approach.

"Saren."

"Nihlus." The two Turians locked forearms together in greeting.

"Did you find the beacon?" Saren asked.

"I did. I'm having the Geth bring it up now."

"Good, soon we will have the information we need." Saren said.

"Yes but not here. This Commander Shepard is good. She's been able to keep pace with me, she could get here any moment. Let's take the beacon to the spaceport and leave a team of Geth here to slow her down. Even if she gets past them it'll be too late to save the colony."

"Very well. Old friend let's-" Saren stopped and looked around. The camera angle changed as Powell hid behind the crates.

Suddenly Powell was yanked up by a very angry Saren. What followed was Saren and Nihlus beating Powell for information who he was, why was he hear. Apparently they never bothered to check his Omni tool though. The final segments of the video showed Nihlus holding Powell down while Saren put a pistol to his head.

"That's enough Kaiden." Her voice had gone cold and hard. "Save a copy of that and forward it to everyone's Omni tool. Let's find that bastard Nihlus and put a bullet in him."

Jason's mind was revealing, they had proof, irrefutable proof, that Saren was behind this attack, and worse Nihlus was assisting them. What the hell was going on? First the ambush, now this. Jason couldn't help but remember what Order and Entropy had told him back before this had all started. Someone was behind the scenes manipulating events, making Shepard's job harder. With that video the Council would have no choice but to disbar Saren and Nihlus. If that happened what would happen to Garrus, Wrex, and Tali? If someone wanted to make Shepard's job harder they couldn't have done a better job. By taking away some of her best squad mates they had effectively hamstrung Shepard. Jason needed to find a way to get those people involved.

What really unnerved Jason though, was what would have happened if they hadn't found Powell's body. They would never have known that Saren and Nihlus were traitors. Shepard would never have known where to begin her investigation. Saren could have easily gone all the way to Illos before anyone even knew there was a threat. Shepard would have lost before she even realized it.

_/Everything alright?/_ Ghost asked.

"Not even close Ghost. I'll tell you about it when we get the chance." Jason said under his breath as he followed Shepard. He picked up his pace and took point stopping when he reached the loading ramp for the tram. Everyone lined up on him. He peeked and around the corner and cursed. He quickly ducked back behind the corner as a pair of Geth opened fire on him. He reached down and pulled his pistol from Shepard's hip.

"I'll be borrowing this Commander." Without waiting for a response he swung the gun around the corner with his left hand to present as small a target as possible. He fired two quick bursts taking out the Geth before they could get another shot off. Suddenly the left side of the walk way exploded and was covered in flames.

"Take out those heavy weapons!" Shepard cried. Ashley and Kaidan hurried to follow her orders.

Jason tossed the pistol back to Shepard before grabbing his shotgun and sprinting down the loading ramp. Bullets flying past his head, he ducked and rolled at the bottom of the ramp, landing with his gun up and pointed right at the gut of a Geth trooper. Jason quickly shot it, then he spun around, using the rest of his clip to take out the four remaining Geth on the platform.

Shepard and the rest quickly joined him while he reloaded. Together they moved across to the tram itself. Jason was again on point. The tight narrow platforms that made up the surface of the tram proved difficult to fight across.

"Jason watch that big one!" Jason turned at Shepard's warning just in time to see a Geth Destroyer stand up and start running down the walkway towards him. Without thinking he stood up and sprinted right at it.

"Jason!"

Jason gathered his Light in his body, strengthening it and allowing him to move faster. He focused his light in a single point and then right as he made contact he unleashed it. The Geth Destroyer was thrown back crushing several of its allies, it however was still able to shakily get back to its feet. Before it could retaliate Jason put the last three rounds into it finishing it off.

With the loss of larger unit, the rest of the Geth became temporarily disorganized, allowing Shepard and the team to quickly finish them off. Jason nodded in satisfaction, but the look Shepard gave him told him just how displease she was.

"Jason when this is over we're going to have a long talk about proper combat maneuvers. I don't care if you hit like a Krogan, you're still human. If you've got a death wish go get yourself killed somewhere else, less paperwork that way. We clear?"

"Perfectly clear, Commander."

Shepard nodded at him. "Good let's go finish this then. Kaiden, get this tub moving!"

The tram left the station at good clip. As they sped along the way, Jason check his weapons. He was almost out of shells. The gun was fully loaded but he only had three shells left in his ammo pouches plus his knife. He knew the fight coming up would likely be more than he could handle without more ammunition. "Ghost when I give the word send down the BTRD-345 with six extra drums of ammunition." He said quietly. No one could hear him over the wind rushing past.

_/Right, prepping transmat. I can have it down in a moment's notice./_ Ghost paused for a bit be asking, _/Jason, are you alright?/_

"Things aren't happening like they're supposed to. We've been lucky so far, but if this trend continues then we're going to have a hell of a time winning this fight."

_/Do you think victory is possible?/_

Jason looked over at the rest of the squad, particularly Kaidan and Ashley, "Not without sacrifices."

"Alright team we're coming in." Shepard said snapping him out of his thoughts.

They were under fire before the tram even stopped moving. When the ramps lowered Shepard called out, "Everyone off, double time!" Jason went and knelt behind a crate. Suddenly Kaiden's omni tool started shrieking.

"Radiological Alarm! Commander we've got nukes here! Six of them! They're going to destroy the colony!" He screamed. Jason could hear the fear in his voice. Nukes, there were never any nukes back in the game, Saren was playing for keeps, if even one of those went of the colony would be destroyed.

"Kaiden get on those nukes. Everyone else, COVERING FIRE!"

Jason didn't even hesitate about sowing off his Light. He threw a shock grenade into the largest cluster of Geth he could find. Without hesitating he pulled his shotgun up and fired in rapid succession. Droves of Geth fell underneath the onslaught of his guns, but more were pouring in from corner.

"Commander they've got some kind of encryption algorithm running! I can't break it in time. We need to get out!"

"Stow it Lt. we're not losing this colony!" Shepard yelled.

"There's nothing I can do Commander!"

Jason's gun ran out he threw the gun away, Ghost would pick it up for him. He sprinted from his cover over to where Kaidan and Shepard were. "Let me try Commander. Ghost do your thing."

In a flash of light appeared next to him, "On it. Keep them off me for a few seconds." With that he turned to the nuclear weapon and proceeded to disarm it.

_"I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade."_

Shepard watched as the . . . drone got to work disarming the bomb. She'd seen drones in the filed before, but she'd never heard of one taking orders and giving responses. That had to be one hell of a V.I., what really confused her though was Jason obviously didn't have an omni tool, so how had he created the drone?

Suddenly Jason looked at her, "What are you waiting for?! You heard the techno eye cover him!" _Him? Not it? _Shepard hadn't been yelled at like that since basic. She then watched as a machine gun magically appeared in Jason' hands. Without a comment he raised the gun to his shoulder, flicked off the safety and started sending controlled bursts into the Geth. They dropped like flies.

Ashamed at her inaction Kara raised her own rifle to her cheek and continued firing, less than half a minute later and suddenly she heard the little robot speak up, "All done, lets get the rest Guardian."

The next four minutes were a blur of frantic activity as Shepard and her team tried to disarm all the bombs before any of them went off. Jason's gun was a god send. With out it they would have been bogged down trying to take out the Geth's barriers. She made a note to include that to the steadily growing list of questions to ask him when this was all done. Towards the end she began to fear that they weren't going to make it. The last bomb began beeping at a steady pace and just before she swore she was about to die she heard the little robot call out for the last time, "All done."

Relief washed over her, they'd done it. All they had to do now was deal with the Geth. Suddenly she heard Jason yell, "Commander, get down!" ingrained reflexes took over and she dove for the ground, she felt something heavy land on top of her with a start she realized it was Jason. That was as far as she got before her world turned white.

**"I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade."**

When the world stopped trying to tear itself apart, Kara opened her eyes and crawled out from underneath Jason's still form. What ever had happened, all the Geth were destroyed. She took one look at Jason whatever he had protected her from had killed him. He left arm was completely gone and his armor was cracked and dented. The paint was peeled off and what was left was burnt black.

"Chief, what happened?" She asked softly.

"The Geth ma'am. They just-" She heard Ashley gulp. After taking a few deep breath the marine spoke again, "Four of those rocket launcher wielding troopers we saw earlier managed to flank us. They had a clear shot at you ma'am, but then Jason just threw me his gun and jumped on top of you." She paused. "You should be dead commander. That's no normal suit of armor ma'am. There's no way this should have happened. Even if all three of us jumped on you all you'd end up with is a pile of meaty bits."

Kara could feel despair welling up inside of her, it happened every time she lost someone under her command, but this was different. Jason wasn't a marine he was just, well she didn't know what he was, but he owed her nothing, no loyalty, so why would he sacrifice himself to save someone he'd only just met?

As she pondered, Jason's body was engulfed in light. Shepard gasped and stepped back. Next thing she saw was Jason standing there completely unhurt.

"Next time commander, please learn to duck. I might be able to revive, but that doesn't mean dying doesn't hurt."

**"I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade."**

Jason watch as a myriad of emotion crossed Shepard's face before eventually settling on a scowl. "So, what's your story?" She asked.

Jason could help but laugh, "My story is so far out of this world it'll take few hours just to explain, but I promise I'll tell you everything when we get done here."

"Fair enough. BUT! If you don't come clean with me when the time comes, I'll see just how many times you can pull a Lazarus before you stay dead, understand!"

"HUA! Commander!" He said.

Shepard nodded and looked over at Ashley and Kaidan. "You find that beacon yet." She snapped.

"Yes ma'am right over here." Ashley said. Falling back on her training rather than try to make sense of the impossible.

As she guided Shepard to the beacon, Jason followed. He could feel Kaiden glaring at his back, Jason shrugged and let it roll off. There it was. The start of all Shepard's problems. The beacon stood there swirls of green energy emanated from it.

"Why's it glowing chief?"

"I don't know commander it wasn't doing anything like that when they dug it up."

Shepard just shook her head, "Williams stay here and keep an eye on this thing while I call for pick up. Jason, come with me please."

Jason followed Shepard a way's making sure to keep his back to the beacon. "We need to have that talk."

Jason sighed, "I told you commander it would take time."

"Listen, I don't have a lot of time, when the Normandy get's here I'm leaving. I want answers and I would like them before I go."

"We." Jason said.

"Excuse me?"

"We go. Commander trust me whatever is going on here you're going to need my help. I'm coming with you." Jason said.

"You volunteering?" She asked. "Because something tells me this is big and it's going to get ugly."

"Commander I can deal with ugly, I've fought it on a daily basis for six years, it's the downright hideous that has me concerned."

Shepard looked at him as if sizing him up, "Fair enough." With that she turned and began talking with the Normandy.

Jason turned and watched as Kaidan and Ashley were talking a few moments later and Kaiden started walking over to him. He didn't get far before the beacon grabbed hold of Ashley and started dragging her in.

"Commander!" He called out.

A heartbeat later and Shepard was rushing past him to grab Ashley. Jason caught her and set her down. Right as Shepard was lifted into the air. He had to spin and grab Kaiden by the waist. "Don't lieutenant. You don't know what'll happen to her."

"Let me go, Jason!"

Commander Shepard started to twitch and spasm. Kaiden only struggled more.

"Come on Lt. he's right we have no idea what'll happen to her if you pull her out!" Ashley said as she rushed to help Jason.

"I said let me go!" Kaiden was glowing with biotics now.

"Not going to happen." Jason said calmly.

Before Kaiden could respond the beacon exploded sending Shepard flying. She impacted with a couple of crates further back. Suddenly Jason let Kaiden go and felt something punch the side of his head knocking him a step as Kaiden sprinted over to where the Commander lay.

"Lieutenant!" Ashley called.

"Let it go sarge." Jason said. He would never let one of his boys hit another while in the field, but he could forgive the Lt. once. It had been a long day.

"I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade."

**A/N: Huff Huff Huff. God that was a long stretch 8500+ words. If the Chapters continue to run this long from now on expect them every two weeks. I really just wanted to get this one written and published so everyone would could wet their appetite. If you're interested in being a beta PM me please. See you next time folk!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Here we go Chapter 3. I want my readers to know that I'm planning on trying to update at least once a week. With that goal in mind you all should expect the chapter's to run about 6k to 7k words each. Last week was a fluke, it'll probably happen again, but that's the exception not the rule. Once again I'd like to thank my BETA DivineWhisperV2 for all his help. Check at the end of the Chapter for responses to some of the reviews**

**Chapter 3: Not a Game Anymore**

**"I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade."**

Shepard slowly regained consciousness. Every part of her body hurt, like she'd tried to wrestle with a Krogan and somehow survived. She groaned.

"Dr. Chakwas, I think she's waking up."

Shepard's eye sight exploded in light, "Damn it!" She cursed. "Doc put that torture device you call a flashlight away!" The light blissfully left.

"I'd say our commander is going to be just fine, Sergeant." Shepard opened her eyes to see the thankfully dim medical bay. She saw Karin and Ashley standing beside her bed.

"How do you feel Commander?" Karin asked.

"Like I got hit with a freight train." Kara deadpanned.

"That's closer to the truth than you know. Something happened with the beacon. The explosion sent you flying into a stack of shipping crates. Nothing's broken, but you have some serious bruising and a few deep contusions. They're painful, but they won't affect your performance." Karin had long ago stopped trying to treat the Commander like a regular marine. If she could still fight without being a danger to herself or the people around her, she'd do it regardless of how much pain she was in.

Looking over at Ashley she asked, "Sergeant, would you please alert the Captain that the Commander's awake?"

"You got it doc." Ashley said nodding.

While they were waiting Shepard got up and started stretching. She needed to see how much of her flexibility was affected by the bruising. She started by bending at the waist and placing her hands flat on the deck plates. It hurt but the more she stretched and warmed up the more the pain faded to a dull ache. Satisfied she dropped down and did a set of push-up's.

"Do you ever stop and just relax Commander?" She heard the warm voice of Captain Anderson.

"I tried going to a beach once, ended up breaking a guy's arm while stopping a mugging."

Anderson chuckled. Shepard finished her set and stood up.

"I'd ask how your feeling but I already know the answer."

"Yes sir." Shepard eye's suddenly became hard, "What happened to the beacon?"

"We have what's left in the cargo hold. Kaiden had been going over it until one of his migraines forced him to stop. He'd been at it since we brought it on board, he thinks it was some kind of system overload. It's trashed Commander."

"Danm." She said quietly. "How long was I out?"

"About fourteen hours. The doctor said that the beacon was affecting your brainwaves, something about you having a dream."

"More like a nightmare, sir. I've seen a lot of war and destruction, but . . ." she trailed off and shuddered recalling the visions she'd had while unconscious. "What ever was stored in the beacon, the message was pretty clear, death in the most horrible and gruesome fashion possible."

Anderson humphed, "I'll make sure to forward this information in my report, unfortunately as much as we need to find out what was on that beacon it pales in comparison to our other problems."

"Nihlus." She said with venom. "That traitor is going to pay."

"Yes," Anderson agreed, "but Saren is the one I'm worried about. He's the Council's top agent. Whenever the Council needs something done, they send him. He doesn't care about collateral damage, has no qualms about using summary execution as a means of enforcing his duties, and he hates humans. With the Geth behind them we're going to be in serious trouble. I hope your ready for a fight Commander, Alliance Command is at full mobilization. These bastards try anything like this again and the Alliance is going to bring the full force of our fleets to bear."

"Damn right, sir. We're are we heading?"

"The Citadel, but we're still a few hours out. We're going to present our evidence to the council directly, and you and the team need to be present to answer any questions."

"Understood, sir." Shepard said nodding.

Anderson pinched the bridge of his nose, "Now let's talk about the spare you picked up down there."

"Jason. He said that he'd answer any questions we might have after the mission's over." Shepard said.

"He's answered a few, but he said he wanted to wait until you were up before he explained everything." Anderson sighed. "I've gone over the footage from the entire mission, between that and his ship, which is nothing like anything I've ever seen, he'd better have one hell of a story."

Now Shepard understood. She'd been down on the ground and seen it in person, and even she wasn't sure that she believed what she saw. "Well let's go talk him." She took a few steps, "Wait, ship?"

"You'd better just see for yourself."

Together the Captain and Shepard left the med bay. Catching sight of Ashley, Kara waved her over. "How you holding up Ash?"

"I could be better ma'am. After the Geth bugged out I managed to contact the 212." She said sadly.

"How bad?"

"Ninety-eight percent casualties. Nearly all of them fatal. You're looking at the only marine from the 212 that's still combat capable."

Shepard understood the grief of losing people better than most, "I'm so sorry Ash."

Ashely was quiet for a moment, "We'll make it up to them Shepard." It wasn't a question.

"Yes we will. Come on we're going to talk to Jason." Shepard said.

Together the three of them stepped on the lift taking them down to the cargo hold. "Sir, is there anything we can do about this elevator?" Shepard ground her teeth.

"It's on Engineer Adams list of personal projects." Anderson said. Even his patience was tried by the glacial speed of the elevator.

When the elevator doors opened Kara let out a soft whistle. Nestled in the middle of the cargo hold with it's bow facing towards the cargo doors, was a small ship. The design reminded her of an advanced fighter jet from the 21st century, but much larger. The smooth curves and sleek lines gave it the appearance of a hunter.

"You like it Commander?" She heard a voice call out. Turning she saw Jason still in his armor minus the helmet. He walked over to her. "A Pheaton Class V1.1, that ship and I have been through a lot Commander."

He held out his hand and shook her's, "It's good to see you up, Commander."

"Good to be up Jason, let's chat."

**"I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade."**

Jason looked at Shepard, Ashley, and Captain Anderson and nodded. He'd spoken with the Captain earlier but hadn't really said anything so he didn't have to explain everything twice. "I promised you answers in exchange for you giving me some. Do you have a place for us to talk?"

"Let's take this up to the briefing room. It's secure." Anderson said.

Jason nodded. "Ghost, let's go." He called out.

"Coming." Ghost came floating around his jump ship. He'd been performing maintenance on the ship's port side thruster. They'd had a bit of trouble maneuvering the ship in the cargo hold. Jason chuckled at everyone's reaction to his Ghost. Ashley's and Anderson glared, no doubt they thought Ghost was some form of A.I. Shepard however had seen that Ghost had actually come from his body when they separated. She, by comparison, simply looked curious.

"Ashley, how are you?" Jason asked, she had to be hurting from the loss of her unit.

"I'll be better once we get the traitor that started all this." She said.

Jason just nodded. In his six years as a Guardian he'd seen friends come and go, he'd felt the anger Ashley was no doubt experiencing many times.

"Alright I call dibbs on the first question." Shepard said when they got to the briefing room.

"Go ahead Commander." Anderson said.

"Wait, aren't we going to wait for Kaiden?" Jason asked.

"He's currently sleeping off a migraine in his sleeper pod." Ashley explained, "Could be a while."

Jason nodded, "Ask away Shepard."

"What the hell is that?" She asked pointing at Ghost.

Ghost spun his rear half in agitation, "I am not a 'that'! I am a Ghost! His Ghost, and I'd appreciate it if you referred to me as such!" When his rant was finished he was right in front of Shepard's face and she'd backed up to wall behind her.

"S- sorry." She said.

"That's kind of hard to explain Commander. Tell me, what year is it?"

Shepard raised an eyebrow, "2183."

Jason adopted a shocked expression. "Ghost, is it possible?" In the hours after coming on board he had told Ghost his plan to try and convince Shepard to let them join her crew. Together they'd come up with a plausible cover story.

"Technically it is possible, Vex temporal displacement technology has always been misunderstood Voodoo for the most part." Ghost said.

"Then we've really been sent back?"

"Not just back but it seems to an alternate dimension as well."

"Wait!" Shepard interrupted. "What are you two babbling about! Temporal displacement? Alternate Dimension? Jason in English. Now." She ordered.

Jason sighed, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to be obtuse. Commander, you've just confirmed my suspicion. I . . . I think I've come here from a different dimension."

He looked at each of the people gathered. Ashley had an eyebrow raised in skepticism. Anderson looked like he just swallowed a fly. Shepard just had this thoughtful expression like she considered such news as just another day at the office.

"Son, you care to explain that?" Anderson finally asked.

"My name is Jason. Aside from that I have no memories of my past life. Six years ago I woke up with Ghost hovering over me. Telling me that I was a Guardian, that a lot had changed, that I'd been dead for a long time. My first moments of life were spent running for my life as a group of Fallen tried to track me down and kill me. Ghost can explain what happened better than I can. Captain, can Ghost have your permission to interface with the holographic display here?" he asked gesturing to the far wall.

Anderson nodded, "Go ahead son."

"Ghost show them."

Ghost bobbed and flew over to the wall. In a burst of Light he disappeared in the consul.

"Humans called it the Traveler." Ghost began. For the next hour Ghost explained how the Traveler came to humanity. He told what he could about the Golden Age and how far Humanity advanced. He showed them some of the old images from the archive that showed the magnificent cities on Venus. He told them how Humanity gave the Awoken a home to call their own. He showed them how together we created the Exo. Then at the height of our own magnificence we were cut down.

The showed them the Collapse. He showed them how the Darkness overran us. In the opening maneuvers of the war we had lost nearly half our population. He showed them how we were slowly pushed back to the shadow of the Traveler and how at the last minute it sacrificed itself and created the Ghosts.

"Now all the remains is a single city. The Last City, where only a handful of Guardians stand between some three billion people and death. Before the Collapse we numbered almost twenty times that number, now we're all that's left." Ghost finished and floated beside Jason.

Over the entire explanation, Jason had watched as the three people went from skeptical but curious to downright pale. "Ghost found me in the year 25- something, I can't tell you when exactly because we honestly don't know. Since then I've been fighting as a Guardian." Jason said.

Shepard was silent for a moment, "That explains what you and he are." She said, "But not how you came to be here."

Now Jason told her his carefully crafted cover story. He had checked all the details with Ghost to make sure that any technical aspects were actually possible, he didn't like lying to the Commander, but the truth would be too much.

"We were assaulting a Vex stronghold on Venus. We were looking for something called the 'Dimensional Vault Key'. Intelligence believed that it was the command center for all Vex activity in the hemisphere. Our objective was to destroy the Gate Lord commanding it and get out."

"You went in alone?" Shepard asked.

"Guardians are meant to be one man armies, Commander, but no. I'm good but even I know that would be suicide. I had two other Guardians were with me Tera 985 and Joran Tel. An Exo Hunter and an Awoken Warlock. You see when operating in team of three, a squad of Guardians can be a well oiled machine of war. The three of us had worked together before on multiple occasions. We fought through what amounted to an entire company's worth of Vex. Then we found the Gate Lord."

Jason looked down the last time he had fought a Gate Lord he'd lost friends, "In the three hundred years since the Collapse no Guardian has ever killed a Gate Lord. We thought we would be the first, but we had underestimated the Vex's ability to manipulate time. We thought the Gate Lord was defeated, we called our ships back to pick us up for evac, but then right as Ghost and I were leaving it opened a time rift right in front of us. No Guardian has ever survived in a Vex time rift. I don't know what happened to Tera or Joran. All I know is that when I woke up my ship and I were on Eden Prime. When we realized the situation I had Ghost send the ship into orbit and we did our duty."

Captain Anderson looked over at the Commander, "What do you think?"

"As hard as it is, I believe him. His ship, armor, weapons, and abilities are like nothing I've ever seen before. I just have one question though, how'd you come back to life? I saw you, you were dead, then all the sudden you weren't?"

"Ah demonstration would be better. Ghost would you sent me the Universal Remote?" Jason asked.

"Of course." In a flash of Light a shotgun appeared in Jason's hands. This one was much different from his previous gun. Shepard noted that it looked much more like a tactical shotgun from the 21st century. It was a dull tan color and had a simple rail sight with a composite stock. The one glaring difference was the size of the barrel. The KSG was a ten gauge, the shells were about as big around as Jason's thumb. The Universal Remote's barrel, by comparison, was a full two inches in diameter.

*Captain! That ship in the hanger just gave off some crazy readings! I'm picking up frequencies from every band of the electromagnetic spectrum and then some! What the hell just happened?*

Anderson, to his credit took the sudden appearance of the weapon in stride, "We're fine Joker, our guest was just showing us how his teleportation device works."

*. . . . . . * Silence greeted them before Joker finally spoke, *You're kidding right, cause last I heard stuff like that only existed in bad science fiction.*

"No he's not, Joker. Don't you have a ship to piolet?" Shepard said.

*Aye aye Commander, back to work.* Joker said. The commander's tone had made it clear she wasn't pleased at the interruption. When Joker was done she motioned for Jason to continue.

"This gun was stored on board my ship, till just now. Ghost used something called the Transmat to send it to me. We don't exactly know how it works but when Ghost uses it he can recreate a Guardian's body in the event of their death. When a Guardian dies the Ghost can store their Light for a short time and when the new body is recreated, the Ghost gives the Light back effectively bringing a Guardian back from the dead."

"I've heard you use that term before, what is Light?" Ashley asked.

"The best way I can describe it, is like a soul. Guardians use their Light as a weapon to fight the Darkness." Jason said. Ashley didn't seem to like his answer. Now that he thought about it, Ashley was a Christian and a devout one. Telling her he used his soul as a weapon probably didn't sit well with her. "All living beings generate Light to some degree, all except the Darkness. A Guardian can use their Light as a weapon. I wish I could explain it better, but that's the extent of my knowledge. Some of the older Warlocks back home knew more, but I was too busy fighting to spend much time trying to learn."

"Sounds like your people forgot a lot of things." Said Shepard.

Jason gave a mirthless laugh, "You have no idea Commander. You know we had practically reinvent flight at some point?"

That seemed to quiet the Commander, like she didn't fully understand how bad the Collapse had been until now.

"So what now son?" Anderson asked.

"Sir?"

"So what are you going to do now?" Anderson explained.

"That's easy, I might have traveled across universes, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm still a Guardian. I'm going to protect humanity from the Darkness wherever I find it."

Shepard had a grin plastered on her face, "Good. I could use someone like you."

"Oh really?" Jason crossed his arms and gave a small smile.

"Oh an immortal soldier with years experience fighting enemies just as dangerous, or more so, than the Geth. Absolutely."

Jason couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"What?" Shepard asked.

Jason took a deep breath trying to keep his grin in check, "Commander it's been how long? A couple hundred years, and I finally got a marine to admit they need an Army grunt like me to solve their problems! Somewhere my old man is rolling in his grave!" Jason started laughing again at the absurdity.

Ashley started laughing and pretty soon Anderson was chuckling along side. Shepard tried to glare at Jason, but soon enough a small smile tugged at her lips. Then she stopped fighting it and she bust out laughing too.

"Alright," Shepard said, whipping her eye's, "that's enough. Jason you can have Jenkins's old pod, we'll have to get you an omni tool issued, and we need to do something about your weapons."

"Excuse me?" Jason said.

"Look Jason I'm sure you like them, and I mean no disrespect, but those guns are going to be useless in a vacuum, for that you're going to need some good old fashioned mass effect tech."

"My guns work in vacuum." Jason said.

Shepard suddenly sobered, "What?"

Jason calmly ejected a round from the shotgun in his hands. He took the shell in his hands and using his enhanced strength he carefully pulled the shell apart. Dipping his finger in he pulled out a globule of the oxygenated jell. "This jell is ten times more effective than gunpowder." He said. "The mixture is a carefully measured ratio of oxygen and combustibles meaning this gun can fire in vacuum."

Shepard and Anderson carefully approached him, "Jason," Anderson began, "Do you think it's possible for you to provide a sample of this stuff to our R&D teams and also get some samples of your technology? While not suitable for every situation, your guns were certainly effective against those Geth down on the planet. If we can incorporate this somehow into our own weapons it might just give us the edge we need if the Geth show up again."

Jason shrugged, "I don't see why not. I have plenty of ammunition to spare for a while at least. I also have a few weapons that might interest your R&D teams. Although I have to ask from what I've seen my weapons are pretty primitive compared to what I saw you all using down there on the planet. Do you really think my tech can help?"

"The reason your weapons were so effective is that the Geth's kinetic barriers weren't calibrated to stop your bullets. Instead of trying to bludgeon our way through their technology we need to find a way around it, use their own strength's against them.

Jason nodded in understanding, "I see. I'll have sample of my ammunition and one of my weapons brought up to your cabin shortly Captain. I hope you find a way to make it work."

Anderson nodded, "That settles it then. I'll forward this proposal to my superiors Jason, in the meantime consider yourself a private security contractor to the Alliance, your effective rank will be the equivalent of 2nd Lieutenant and your posting will be under Commander Shepard until further notice. Understood."

Jason might have been out of the game for a while, but he popped a parade ground salute, "HUA! Captain!"

Anderson responded with his own salute. "Good to have you on board Son."

"It's good to be back in uniform sir. So to speak."

Anderson nodded and left them in the briefing room. Shepard turned a covetous eye to the gun in Jason's hand, "So, you got anymore like that?"

"I already gave you my pistol Commander, this one is slightly more complicated than that." Jason said with a smile.

Shepard smiled a bit, "I'm assuming you don't have a way to make more ammunition for your self do you?" She asked.

"I do actually. I have all the presses and such, but I'm going to need a place to work and some raw materials to work with, but most of it is pretty simple, just time consuming."

Shepard nodded, "Ashley show Jason the ropes. Get him brought up to speed on our technology as fast as you can. Jason, give Ashley a list of what ever supplies you need to get your weapons up and running, but we might just have to get you something on the Citadel."

"HUA! Commander!"

"Aye Aye!"

Shepard shook her head, "I think you're going to be fine here Jason."

**"I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade."**

Together Jason and Ashley left the briefing room and made their way to the Cargo Hold. "So Jason, you've been fighting a war for the last six years?" She asked.

Jason sighed, "Not really a war Ashley. More like a delaying action with no hope for relief."

"How was it?" She asked quietly.

Jason looked off in the distance, "Being a Guardian means being the first and last line of defense. Failure is not an option. The lives of our entire people hanged in the balance. I've fought every day of my life for the last six year's. One of the down sides to being an immortal that can have their body reconstituted at will, is that you don't really need sleep. Feel tired? Put a gun to your head and wake up a few seconds later refreshed and ready to go."

At the look of horror on her face Jason stopped that train of thought, "Of course the up side is when you see the children in the City. They worship the Guardians, call us hero's. Fighting the monsters of nightmares every day and night can start to wear on you. It's not glamorous, but it was worth it."

Ashley didn't know what to say to that, so she didn't say anything perfering to keep her own company.

**"I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade."**

For the next two hours Jason went over the basics with Ashley then Shepard on the operation of what they would call 'modern' firearms. In return he gave Ashley a nice revolver that had decent stopping power and held six shots. Shepard kept the Desert Eagle. When Kaiden finally woke up and was debriefed by the Commander he grudgingly came to visit Jason and welcome him to the ship.

Just before they hit the relay for the Citadel Jason went to visit the Captain in his cabin.

"Jason, what can I do for you son."

"Captain, I came to give you this for your R&D teams." Jason said holding out his beloved KSG and a box of ammunition. "This shotgun is extremely versatile and reliable. I've had this one for years. I figured giving you a working example would help speed things along."

Anderson took a moment and ran his hands over the weapon. "Thank you son, but won't you be needing this?"

"I've got more powerful weapons that I can use, and with me working as a part of Shepard's team I won't have to worry about being flanked, meaning I can take some of my more situational specific weapons."

Anderson nodded, "I see. Thank you. This will be a big help."

Jason nodded to the Captain, and returned back to the hanger. "Ghost, how's the ship doing?"

"I've isolated the fault and repaired the damaged relay. The ship is now fully functional."

"Good. Come on let's go to the cockpit. We'll be arriving at the Citadel soon and I want to see it." Ghost merged with him and the two made their way to the cockpit.

"So you're the new guy?"

Jason looked down at Joker, "Yep, Jason." He said simply

"Jeff Moreau, people call me Joker. You here to see that taxpayer money at work?"

Jason shrugged, "I've never seen anything like the Citadel. Figured I might as well have the best seat in the house."

"So I heard you're some kind of super badass. Can't die or something." Joker teased.

"Oh no I can die, I just don't stay dead for very long."

"Sounds like fun."

Jason smiled, "You should try it sometime, if you ever want to experience it first hand let me know I'd be more than happy to help."

"Ha ha ha, funny. Thanks, but that's the kind of thrill you only get to experience once. I'm good." Joker deadpanned.

"Joker, you causing problems for our guest." Shepard said as she joined them.

"Pfft. As if Commander. I know better than to mess with a guy that could break my spine just by glaring at me."

"That's right Commander we were just discussing the entertainment value of dying in horribly painful ways then coming back from the dead only to experience it again." Jason teased.

"Really, and what pray tell, Joker, was the outcome of such a discussion?" Shepard asked.

"Short answer Commander. Don't."

The Commander laughed. "How we doing Joker?"

"We're forty-five seconds out from the Relay now Commander. Beginning the transit sequence now."

Jason and Shepard watched as Joker piloted the Normandy through the Relay. Jason felt a slight shift in the deck plates as the drive core compensated for the sudden acceleration shift.

"Wow." Jason said. Seeing the Citadel appear out of the pink nimbus that made up the nebula was a sight to behold.

"Impressive isn't it." Shepard said.

"Yeah." Jason admitted. He kept swiveling his head as he looked at each of the different ships in the area.

Shepard nudged his arm, "See that?" she asked pointing. "That there is the Destiny Ascension. The largest ship in the Citadel Fleet."

"That's pretty big." And it was. The smooth sleek lines of the Destiny cut an impressive figure. "But not nearly as big as what we saw on Eden Prime."

Shepard sobered instantly, "Yeah, your right. Come on Jason let's go get suited up we've got to meet with the Ambassador as soon as we dock."

**"I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade."**

Jason met Shepard at the airlock fifteen minutes later fully kitted out now with his helmet clipped to his belt. He had his new omni-tool, a Chameleon I model, that Kaiden had laying around. When he had been deciding what to bring, he chuckled when his eye's fell on the Doctor Nope. He'd been given the gun by another Guardian that had a penchant for weird names. The vibrant orange weapon stuck out like a sore thumb compared to some of his other guns, but Jason needed the best weapon he could find. Some of the other's he'd thrown out simply because he was afraid the ricochet would be too great a risk for collateral damage. In lieu of his KSG he had the Universal Remote over his right shoulder, and the Doctor Nope was over his left.

Shepard eye's the shotgun covetously.

"Don't even think about it Commander, the recoil will break your arm."

Shepard pouted, but saluted when the Captain joined them. "Alright people let's go."

**"I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade."**

"This is outrageous! If the any of your colonies had been attacked you wouldn't hesitate to send in a fleet to protect yourselves!" Jason heard the ambassador yell. They had walked in while the Udina had been in the middle of a holo call with the Council. One look at the man and you could tell he was livid. One thing about the first game, Bioware didn't really start to excel at facial animations until Mass Effect 2, so you never really got the full breadth of someone's emotions until later. Udina was pissed, like ready to chew you in half then spit you out and kick you in the face pissed.

"_We_ don't try and establish colonies near Terminus space ambassador." Ah there would be Valern, Jason had never liked him, bit of a worm.

Jason swore he heard Udina's molars split. "Eden Prime is in Council Space _Councilor_," somehow he made the title sound like and insult, "the Alliance has performed every security contract, few as we have been awarded, with professionalism. If you aren't willing to do the same-"

"That is enough ambassador!" Sparatus yelled. "The Council will not be dragged into a conflict with the Terminus Systems over a few dozen human colonies!"

"Alliance colonial development makes up 18.5% of the Citadel economy. Those few dozen colonies make up trillions in revenues for your people, what do you think is going to happen when we tell Alliance investors that the Council decided that human interests just aren't worth the trouble!"

"You've always been an upstart race! You've expanded to quickly too properly patrol-" The turian started.

"We've expanded at an appropriate pace for a species that just gained FTL travel, if we were allowed to build more ships we wouldn't have as many issues!" Udina countered.

"Enough!" Tevos said. "Udina, the Republic's Fifth fleet will be redirected from current operations to the Alliance's eastern hemisphere. They will patrol your colonial space for the next six months. At the next general assembly we will discuss the restrictions placed on you by the Treaty of Farixen. As for the rest, we will discuss that at your audience and not before. Good day." With that the three holograms winked out of existence.

"Sounds like you're playing hard ball Udina." Anderson said with a smirk.

"Someone has to keep these aliens reminded that Humanity is here to stay and we are not to be trifled with." Udina replied with a smile. _Wait, a smile?_

Jason's head reeled. _Isn't Udina supposed to be a slimy snake or something, he sounds like he actually cares about humanity's interests and not just his political career._

"As much as I hate to say this, Eden Prime might help us out in the long run. If I can push the Council into letting us build more dreadnaughts and fleets we could be in a better position that we have since we first joined the Citadel. I just wish it hadn't taken something like this to get their attention."

"You've done the best you could." Anderson said.

Udina nodded then looking at Shepard, "Commander," he said holding out his hand, "I know we haven't always seen eye to eye, but thank you for saving Eden Prime. I have a niece that lives there with her wife and daughter. I had just gotten off a call with them before the Council interrupted. You saved their lives."

Shepard took his hand and shook it, "Just doing my job."

"If there's anything I can do for you. Let me know and it's done."

"Just give me a clear shot at Nihlus and Saren and we'll call it even."

A sour look crossed Udina's face, "That is the source of my current frustration with the Council. They're insisting on running their own investigation, to 'validate' our claims. Before they do anything they want to have an audience with Saren and Nihlus."

"You're kidding!" Jason snapped. "We've got proof that they were there directing the attack, or at least Saren was and Nihlus was assisting him!"

"Ah you see that's what you'd think, but the Council have been doing this for a thousand years, and humanity has not always had the best track record when it comes to accusing Saren of crimes against us."

Jason noticed Anderson suddenly had a look of anger on his face.

"Now before we go into the Council chamber. Jason this is your ident chip, it shows that you are a registered member of the Alliance. It also has a simple background for you. The best people in the Alliance made this, hopefully it'll fool the blasted STG long enough for this issue with Saren and Nihlus to be resolved." He said handing over a small chip. "Put that into your omni tool and it'll auto update your tool with all the information."

Looking over at Shepard and the rest of the crew, "Meet me in the tower in a few minutes I have to meet with a few people first."

Jason watched as Udina and the Captain left. He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

"What's eating you Jason?" He heard the Commander ask.

"Back when I was a Guardian, every politician I ever met I wanted to punch in the face. Udina seems, well different." He confessed.

"You had politicians?" She asked.

"Of course we did. You didn't expect some three billion people living together wouldn't have a government of some kind would you?"

Shepard left out a laugh. "Udina was the same way a few years ago. Then a few years back he and I had a heart to heart. I won't go into details, but ever since then he changed. Now he embraces the responsibility of his position. Ever since then I've had no problem with him. There are some people that don't like him saying he gives the Council too many concessions, but what people don't know is that for every defeat he suffers he wins at least twice as often for the Alliance. We're not friends, but we do respect each other, and when it comes time he's the best damn dog in the fight when it comes to protecting Humanity's interests."

Jason felt a flicker of hope. If what the Shepard just said told him was true than maybe Udina wouldn't betray Shepard later. His musings were interrupted when an explosion rocked the embassy.

"What the hell!" The team rushed to the open window at the far end of the office.

In the distance Jason could see smoke rising from a pair of burnt out air cars, the source of the explosion. Looking down he saw a group of mercenaries assaulting the building. He saw two Krogan, some Batarians, a couple of Turians, and some Asari. Looking over he noticed that there were several different, but distinct, color schemes. Then he heard the sound of a dropship come down for a landing, a pair of Turians were dragging a man towards the shuttle. A man in an Alliance Captain's uniform.

"They've got the Captain!" Jason yelled. He slammed his helmet down on his head. "Shepard I'm going to try and cut them off! You meet me on the ground floor!" Without waiting for an answer Jason leapt off the window, Shepard's curses followed him all the way down. One thought passed through his mind before he landed, _This wasn't in the game!_

**A/N: Well here we are Chapter three. Cliffhanger I know. Once again I have to thank my BETA DivineWhisperV2 for all his help in turning this from something I consider merely OKAY to something much better. His comments and second guessing have forced me to really think and for that I am grateful. Now on to the comments**

**edboy4926: To answer your question chemical propellant based weapons are not that advanced or difficult to understand, but I hope I've piked your interest with this chapter. As for some of the more exotic weapons, consider this, there are some weapons in Destiny that Ghost fully admits he can't understand mostly because some of the components shouldn't be able to exist.**

**GrimKid98: I'm sure they'll react like Proper Councilors that we've all come to know and love, i.e. act like they don't believe it then claim ignorance when things get tough.**

**Tormound: Consider this even .05% light speed is still blazing fast. The Kinetic Energy equation is K=1/2*m(v^2) v is velocity and it's squared I don't care it it's a piece of sand or a pebble you get hit with something moving that fast you're dead**

**ww1990ww: Oh yes it hurts, it hurts like the dickens. Unfortunately that's why Jason is here though. He's got to be a bullet sponge, just like a Titan should be.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: So here we are chapter four. Hard to believe its only been what? A month? and here we are. I'll tell you before last night I only had 500 words written so far. I had a massive case of writers block, but then last night it all came to me and now I'm posting the next chapter of Warrior's Ethos. Once again I need to thank ****DivineWhisperV2 for all his help on this.**

**Chapter 4: Can you say Head-Butt?**

Jason took off with all the subtlety of a charging rhino. The massive weight of his armor made every step a thunder crack. Back on Eden Prime Jason had been distracted. Having found himself in the Mass Effect universe he hadn't been at the top of his game, but seeing Captain Anderson being dragged off woke up the monster inside of him.

He grabbed Doctor Nope and sprinted up. He saw a pair of C-Sec officers huddled down near a guard rail trying to keep their heads down. Sprinting past them he lined up his sights on his first target, a turian. A quick burst saw him put down. His buddy, also a turian, poked his head up to see who had shot his friend, he didn't live long to regret his mistake.

Jason slammed into the air car the two gunmen had been using for cover. He heard the impact of rifle fire on his cover. Spinning he ducked around the back side of the car catching an Asari off guard. He stitched a line of shots from her torso to her neck. Looking over he saw Udina sitting down besides another air car. He was clutching his leg. Someone had shot his kneecap out.

Running up to him Jason yelled, "You alright!"

"I'm-," a bullet pinged off the car near his head, "I'm fine! Go get Anderson!" Jason looked at Udina's leg. Leg wounds could be tricky. Even a graze could prove fatal if it landed in the wrong spot, especially if it severed the femoral artery. Luckily for Udina the wound while painful was not bleeding too bad, at least as far as gunshots go, he'd live.

Jason nodded at the ambassador and stood up. He fired a long burst from Doctor Nope forcing the mercenaries to take cover. Then he threw a flash bang and charged into the group of mercenaries like a hurricane. Doctor Nope cut through their armor like butter. Disorganized and dazed from the powerful grenade half the remaining mercenaries were dead before the others could even see Jason.

Ignoring the remaining mercenaries Jason sprinted through the middle of their formation in an attempt to reach the Captain, but it was too late. He watched the two Turians throw Anderson on board the shuttle and follow him on board, and the shuttle took off even before the doors were closed.

_/Watch out!/_ Ghost called out too late.

A mountain of flesh slammed into Jason knocking him over. Jason looked over and saw a Krogan aim a shotgun, a Claymore by the looks of it, at him. Before the Krogan could pull the trigger Jason snapped his foot out and kicked the Krogan in the quad with enough force to lift the eight hundred plus pound alien off the ground. The Krogan bent over at the waist in an attempt to catch his breath while Jason got up off the ground. By the time Jason made it to his feet the Krogan had fully recovered.

When he got knocked over, Doctor Nope had gotten thrown from his hands. Rather than try and pull his own shotgun Jason slapped the barrel of the Claymore away, but before he could deliver a storm fist to the Krogan's jaw however the second Krogan slammed into him pinning Jason to a wall.

"Any last words runt!" The Krogan taunted.

Jason responded by smashing his knee into the Krogan's ribs. The Krogan had not counted on Jason's enhanced strength. Putrid breath came out in a rush and the Krogan stumbled back letting Jason drop to the ground. Thinking quickly Jason pulled his knife from this back and stabbed in down into the Krogan's skull. The knife only sunk in an inch before the head plate stopped it. Thinking quickly Jason jumped up and brought his elbow down on the butt of the knife driving it into the Krogan's skull, killing him instantly.

The booming report of a shotgun send Jason flying back. The other Krogan had gotten his gun back. Jason's stomach was on fire. The armor had managed to stop the bullets from penetrating and killing him, but the Claymore was so powerful that it felt like he'd dived on a grenade.

"Damn that hurt!" Jason said.

The Krogan raised an eye ridge, "How are you still alive?" before waiting for an answer he shot Jason again this time in the chest. Jason sprinted right at the Krogan, picked him up and body slammed him into the air car behind him, the same one Udina had been behind. The combined weight of the combatants crushed the roof of the flimsy car. Jason struggled to keep the gun between the and pointed away from him, that thing had hurt!

Realizing he wouldn't be able to overpower Jason, the Krogan instead chose to head-butt him. Pain and lights exploded in Jason's vision as he stumbled back and fell to a knee. He felt the Krogan put his gun up to Jason's head.

"I don't know what you are human, but I'll be well paid if I take care of you now rather than later."

Jason gathered his light in his hands. In his left he dropped his flash bang grenade at the Krogan's feet and squeezed his eyes shut. "Not today asshole."

The grenade went off blinding the alien. In an instant Jason swung his fist up and knocked the gun aside for a second time, the gun went off barely missing Jason's head. Even though his vision was blurry Jason could make out the Krogan quite easily. Standing up Jason smashed his storm fist into the Krogan's chin in a massive uppercut. The Krogan was lifted up off the ground and his body atomized in a flash of Light.

Jason bent over at the waist and tried catch his breath. That shot he'd taken to the stomach and chest had been painful. It took a few seconds to realize the gunfire had stopped.

_/They're like the Cabal./_ Ghost said

"Yeah, but not nearly as well disciplined."

"Jason, what happened!" Looking up he saw the Commander standing not to far away.

"I got my ass kicked ma'am!" Jason growled.

Shepard raised and eyebrow and looked over at the remaining dead Krogan.

"They got the Captain." Jason explained.

"I know, I saw. Don't worry we'll get him back."

Jason took a deep breath to calm himself. "Yes ma'am."

_**I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade.**_

Kara watched Jason as he tried to collect himself. He said he'd been beaten but she had a hard time believing it. She'd watched him take on those two Krogan in hand to hand, something most humans, including herself considered suicide. In reality there was no way for him to have made it in time.

She did look over at the crushed car however and had to ask herself, _What happened to the other one? _She could see body of one of the Krogan, Jason's knife proudly stuck from it's forehead, but the other one was just gone.

Kara portrayed a calm and collected commander, but inside her gut's seethed with anger. The Captain had been the one to pull her from the brink every time she approached the edge. Seeing him dragged off like a piece of meat had felt like a knife in her chest.

"Holy crap, Jason!" Kara watched as Ashley joined them, Kaidan had remained next to Udina to offer what medical aid he could. Ashley looked over at the dead Krogan, "What did you do?"

"I stabbed him." Jason dead panned.

"I can see that." Ashley said.

The conversation was interrupted by the sound of C-Sec sirens. The group of Alliance marines watched as squad after squad of C-Sec officers in heavy armor secured the embassies. Jason shook his head.

"Never fails, the authorities show up after all the excitement's over just in time to clean up the mess." He said.

Kara shared his sentiment, but couldn't bring herself to comment. She grunted instead. She watched as a Turian in heavy armor with white face markings approached them. Over his shoulder was a Revenant and she saw the grip of a shotgun on his back.

"Commander Shepard, I'm Executor Pallin. What happened here?"

"We were meeting with our ambassador before the Council assembly. He and the Captain left early we were about to follow them when the attack hit. These mercs kidnapped the Captain then fled." She said.

Pallin clicked his lower mandibles together and he surveyed the damage. "I appreciate you and your mens help in this matter Commander, but I need you to step down, this is a C-Sec matter now."

"You can't do that!"

"You're talking about the Captain!"

Shepard listened to Ashley's and Kaden's exclamations of disbelief without comment. She heard a small popping noise and looked over at Jason. He, like her, was quiet but there was something off about him, then she noticed his fist. His hand had been against the ruined car next to them, now he'd torn a fist sized hole in the sheet metal that made up the body of the car and was currently doing his best to create a micro singularity with his fist. She reached out a hand and put it on his shoulder. Drawing his eyes through his helmet. She gave him a subtle shake of her head.

"Executor, while I appreciate your position in this matter, that's simply not going to happen." She said calmly. "This attack was made directly against the Alliance. Weather you like it or not we're going to find out what happened and get our Captain back. Now you can either help us or get the hell out of the way." She said. She hadn't used that voice since after Mindoir and again at Torfan.

"HUA Commander!" Jason said stepping up next to her. One of these days she would have to ask him what that meant.

Pallin glared at her, "Commander you will order your men to stand down or I will take them into custody."

Shepard gave Pallin a savage grin, "Pallin, do you know who I am?"

Pulling up his omni-tool Pallin pulled up an image of her, "Commander Shepard, Alliance Marines, N7." He said.

Shepard gave a merciless laugh, "You forgot The Butcher of Torfan." Stepping right up in Pallin's face, "If you think I'm going to sit this out, you'd better have a dreadnaught waiting to back you up." Turning she motioned for her team to join her as she left. She ignored Pallin's roar of indignant fury as she left. She'd been screwed over by one too many Turians lately, she knew her behavior was unprofessional but she didn't care. They had the Captain.

_**I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade.**_

Jason followed the Commander, making sure to pick up his gun as they left. The little hint Shepard had dropped on the Executor gave him a little bit more information as to her personality. Gone was her snarky attitude, it had been replaced with pure steel, an unbreakable will. Jason was reminded why Shepard was chosen of who knows how many candidates to be a Spectre.

"What's the plan?" Jason asked as he reloaded his gun.

"Find the Captain and kill anyone who gets in our way." Shepard said. "Come on, I have a contact here at the Citadel we can talk to."

"Who Commander?" Kaiden asked.

Shepard thought for a moment before answering, "He works for the Shadow Broker. So what ever information he has will be reliable."

"Commander you can't be serious?" Kaidan said in shock. "The Shadow Broker –"

Shepard rounded on Kaiden, "Is the only one outside of C-Sec that might know anything. We. Are. Getting. The Captain. Back." She growled.

With that she took off again. Jason caught sight of the look on Kaiden's face and smirked. Catching up to Shepard he leaned over and asked, "Who's the Shadow Broker?"

Shepard raised and eyebrow before remembering who she was talking to, "He's an information broker, no one know who he is or where he's from, all we know is that he has dirty secrets on everyone. If you need to know something, and if you've got the money he'll get it for you."

"Ah." Jason said. As the kept walking. He'd figured they were heading towards Barla Von's office.

"You're not going to ask?"

"What?" Jason said looking over at the Commander.

"You're not going to ask about the Butcher of Torfan thing?" She asked.

Jason shrugged, "Way I see it, that's your past. I'm here because of the present. If you want to tell me I'll listen. Lord know I've seen some crazy stuff in the past few years." He looked down and said softly, "Done some bad thing's too, good thing I don't need much sleep. Less chance of my demons coming to haunt me."

"Thank you." Shepard said.

The team walked in silence for a few moments before Shepard stopped in front of an unassuming building. She walked right into the office and up to desk. Behind which sat a Volus. "Barla spill. Money is not an issue."

"Commander." Barla said, "How good to see you again."

_Again? _Jason thought.

"Unfortunately I haven't gotten anything solid yet on your Captain, but I will alert you as soon as I do." Bara explained. Kaidan and Ashley looked a little taken back by how fast the broker had deduced why they were here.

"What about Saren or Nihlus?" Jason asked. "It can't be coincidence that the Captain was abducted just before our meeting with the Council. Is there any relation between them and the mercs that attacked us?"

Barla looked at him, "You're very direct Earth-Clan, but yes there is a connection. I've traced their accounts and payments. These mercenaries were hired by a shell company out in the traverse. Following it back, I was able to learn that the company in question was paid out by none other than Binary Helix of which Saren, and Nihlus, are primary stockholders."

"But why would they go after the Captain?" Kaiden pondered.

"To go after me." Shepard said. "Saren knows I'll go after him, chances are he'll have a trap waiting."

"If that's the case then how are we supposed to get the Captain back?"

"The first step in avoiding a trap, Lieutenant, is knowing it's there." Jason said.

The Commander nodded, "Give me a starting point and I'll take care of the rest."

"Normally this information would cost a small fortune, but Saren recently angered the Shadow Broker so you can have it for free. There is a C-Sec investigator that has been coming to me for information on Saren for several months now, paying for what he can. He's very good Commander, so much that the Broker tried to recruit him, but he refused. He might know something." Barla said.

"What's his name and where can I find him?" Shepard asked.

"Garrus Vakarian. Last I heard he was seen in Zakera Ward near the med clinic." Barla said, that was less than an hour ago. If you hurry you might catch him."

Shepard stood up, "Forward me any information you get on the Captain, I mean what I said. Money is not an issue." With that Shepard and the rest left.

Jason's mind reeled, Borla's information had been about Garrus, _not_ Wrex. Excluding the fact that Shepard already knew him, Jason began to fear that his knowledge of the Mass Effect was becoming more and more useless by the second. With the Captain kidnapped he feared Shepard would do something reckless. He had to prevent anything from happening to her, she was the only one that could face what was coming.

_**I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade.**_

As the team approached the Med Clinic Shepard knew something was off. All the lights were off and doors were closed. A med clinic like this would be very busy, even here on the Citadel, especially in the wards.

"Go hot." Jason said taking point. This time he pulled the shotgun Universal Remote incase there was any close quarters fighting. He and the rest of the team ducked down one of the side alleys where they found a secondary entrance to the clinic.

"Ghost can you get it open?" He asked.

Ghost separated from him and looked at the holographic interface. "No problem." Ghost said. Two seconds later the door swished open and Jason was through the door with his gun up. The flashlight on his gun swept across the room.

The Commander followed him through the door checking his blind spot. The rest of the team moved in behind them.

"Clear." Jason said.

"Teams of two. See if you can find anything. What each other's backs." Shepard said.

"Lt. on me." Jason said as he took the door to his immediate left. Without waiting for a response, Jason posted up next to the door and ordered Ghost to hack it.

The next room turned out to be some kind of supply closet. There were stacks of medical equipment and supplies every where. It was a rat's nest of hiding spots and corners. Looking over at Kaiden he nodded and began walking down one aisle while the Lieutenant took the other. When he reached the end. Jason noticed a streak of blue blood. He silently stalked up to the corner of the crate, and slowly came around the corner.

Garrus was laying there, still alive but bleeding heavily from the shoulder. He had a pistol in his hand and was pointing it directly at Jason's head. Despite his obvious injury, the gun in Garrus' hand was steady. Jason slowly took his hand off the trigger of his gun and held up his hands.

"Garrus Vakarian?" He asked.

"Who wants to know?" The Turian responded.

"My name is Jason. I work with the Alliance."

Garrus looked him over, "You don't look like it."

"Independent security contract. I was at Eden Prime. I offered my services to a Commander and stuck with her. She's looking for information on Saren. He's the one responsible for the attack." Jason explained.

Garrus locked eyes with Jason, "How do I know you're telling the truth?" He asked.

"You don't." Jason said. "But give me a chance to prove that I'm not lying. Let me call my Commander, you can even keep the gun on me if you want."

Garrus seemed to think it over for a bit before finally nodding. Jason's enhanced hearing picked up Kaiden slowly letting out a pent up breath from somewhere behind him. It was good to know that the Lieutenant had his back even if they didn't seem to like each other.

Jason called into his omni-tool comlink, "Shepard, I've found Garrus. He's injured but alive and kicking."

*On my way.* She responded.

It didn't take long for the Commander to reach them. When she got there she looked over a Garrus and he slowly lowered the gun, sighing as he did so.

"Garrus Vakarian?" She asked.

"Yes."

"Barla said you might be able to help me." Shepard said.

"Yeah I might be able to. Help me out of here and I'll tell you everything." Garrus said.

"What happened?" Shepard asked.

"Not here Commande. Take us to this address, I'll explain everything there." Garrus said as he activated his omni-tool.

Shepard nodded. "Kaiden go get us transport. Ashley help Garrus. Jason you take their front. I got the rear.

"HUA!"

"Aye aye!"

The team moved out in a smooth formation. They got Garrus to a public transit station without incident, but they definitely received a few odd looks as a full team of commandos made their way through the wards.

_**I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade.**_

"Garrus what happened?" the address Garrus had provided was a secure safe house he'd set up months ago. They were greeted at the door by a woman in green futuristic scrubs.

"Long story Michel." Garrus replied weakly.

Without another word, the Doctor dragged Garrus inside and laid him down on the couch and pulled out a medical bag.

"Local only Doctor. I need to be able to answer the Commander's questions."

"I understand." The doctor responded. She began removing his armor carefully.

"What happened?" Shepard asked.

"Twelve hours ago C-Sec got the news about the attack." Garrus began. "As soon as I learned I dropped off the radar. I've suspected Saren for almost a year now. Something about him hasn't sat well with me. I started looking into his dealings here on the Citadel. Over the past year I've been able to link him to almost eighty separate murders here on the Citadel and across Citadel space."

Shepard whistled, "How has he been getting away with something that big?" She asked incredulous.

Garrus shook his head. "Everything I have is 'circumstantial'," he said making one-handed finger quotes. "At least it was until you showed that Saren wasn't working alone. For every murder Saren managed to have a rock solid alibi despite being seen with the victim not hours before their death in some cases. Nihlus, however, doesn't. Once I got a chance to look at all the data with that new piece of evidence everything became clear. I instantly went into hiding"

"Why?" Shepard asked.

Garrus growled, but they couldn't tell if it was the fact that Michel had a finger digging in his shoulder or his frustration that set him off. "I've been bringing everything I have to Pallin for months now. I begged him to open a formal investigation but he refused. Then I learned something interesting. Pallin was appointed to his position by the Council, on the recommendation of one Nihlus Kryik. I'm sure having the number two top Spectre vetting your candidacy opens more than a few doors for you."

"Son of a bitch!" Shepard yelled as she kicked the wall. "That asshole tried to keep me from involving myself in this investigation!"

As Shepard fumed, Jason suddenly had a thought that clenched his gut, "Commander, after the attack what happened to Udina?"

Suddenly the blood drained from Shepard's face. "Kaiden, Ashley, get to the ambassador now!" The two marines sprinted for the door. The next few minutes were spent in a desperate flurry of activity as Shepard made call after call via her omni-tool before finally getting ahold of someone she could trust.

"Commander? What can I do for you?"

"Admiral Hackett, have you been made aware of the situation here on the Citadel?" Shepard asked.

"Reports are coming in slowly, something about a foiled attack on the embassies?"

Shepard clenched her teeth so hard her jaw ached, "Sir that wasn't a foiled attack. Captain Anderson has been kidnapped! I'm on the ground right now with my team and I just learned that the head of C-Sec is compromised. I have two of my team in route to the Ambassador who was injured during the attack right now, but C-Sec were the ones that escorted him to a local hospital for treatment. I've been trying to track down Anderson."

The other end of the line was silent for a few moment's before Hackett responded, "What?" Jason had never heard a voice so cold in his life. "Commander, get to the bottom of this. Collateral damage is a secondary concern. I'll alert High Command and run interference for you. I'm bringing my entire fleet, I'll be there in twelve hours. If you haven't resolved this by then I don't care what happens, I'll park a dreadnaught on the Citadel Tower if I have to. Enough is enough. Get. It. Done! Hackett out!" It wasn't until then that Jason realized what had just happened. Admiral Hackett had just given Shepard, The Butcher of Torfan, permission to take off the kid gloves and to do whatever was necessary to get to the bottom of this. He almost felt sorry for who ever was stupid enough to get in her way.

"HUA! Sir!" The Commander said. Giving Jason a smirk as she shut off the omni-tool.

"Vakarian, continue." She ordered.

The Turian looked at her and nodded. Michel had managed to get the bullet out of his shoulder by now and was currently dressing the wound, "As soon as I went into hiding I started calling all my contacts that I'd made, looking for anything. That led me to the Doctor here. She'd made a call to Fist recently. I approached her to find out why."

At this the doctor picked up, "A young Quarian came to me. She'd been shot ,she wouldn't tell me by who. She asked me who she could go to, to trade information for protection. Fist is a known agent for the Shadow Broker. I sent her there."

"Except I don't think Fist works for the Shadow Broker anymore." Garrus said.

"Why not?" Jason asked.

"Less than an hour ago a large sum of money was transferred to one of Saren's accounts. One he's used to pay Fist with before in the past." Garrus grimaced as Michel put the final touches on his bandage. "As soon as that happened I went and got Michel and told her to come here, but right as we were leaving some of Fist's men attacked us. I managed to get the doctor out but not before one of them got lucky."

"Wait I don't understand, what does this Quarian have to do with any of this?" Shepard asked confused.

Before anyone could answer her omni-tool lit up, *Commander.* Ashley said.

"Give me some good new sergeant." Shepard said.

*We've got the ambassador, but C-Sec is telling us we can't remove him from the hospital something about him being a material witness. Kaiden's with him right now.* Ashley said.

"Admiral Hackett told me to do whatever it takes, Ash. I am ordering you to get the Ambassador to the Normandy. If C-Sec try's to stop you, shoot them. Is that understood?" She said.

The sound of a gun being pulled could be heard over the comlink, *Perfectly, ma'am.*

Shepard let out a breath before looking over at Garrus, "Continue please."

Michel spoke up, "The Quarian told me that the information that she had had to do with Saren and the Geth."

"But why the attack against the embassies?" Garrus said. "I've been racking my brain since I heard about it. Something's not making sense."

Jason was silent before a thought occurred to him, "What if the attacks aren't related?"

Garrus and Shepard both looked at him.

"The attack on the embassies was well coordinated and executed almost perfectly. This attack against Garrus seems almost sloppy. What if Saren planned the attack against the embassies as soon as he learned that his plan to blow up the colony failed, but then he learned that someone had evidence against him or maybe even something that he didn't want to get out, so he used the most available tool he had instead."

Garrus nodded. "That makes sense. The question is how did Barla not know about this?"

Shepard raised an eyebrow, "Good question." She raised her omni-tool, "Barla we need to talk."

Nothing but silence greeted her.

"Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling?" Jason asked.

"Agreed. Jason let's go find Barla and get some answers."

She made to leave when Garrus called out. "Commander wait!"

"What is it Vakarian?" She asked.

"I know this is your show Commander, but I've been hunting Saren for a long time. Let me come with you. I won't be a burden to you, even wounded. Fist has over thirty people employed strictly as security personnel you'll need all the help you can get."

Jason watched Shepard mull it over for a bit before looking over at him, "He didn't even flinch when he had a gun to my head Commander, and that was when he was bleeding. Besides I know I'll feel better having a decent sharpshooter watching my back." Jason said.

"Agreed come on Garrus. Doctor, I highly encourage you to go to the Normandy right now. I'll radio ahead and let them know you're coming. I wish I could spare one of these two to go with you but I'm afraid I need them"

"It's alright Commander. I know how to watch after myself." The doctor said pulling a pistol from her medicine bag."

"You best get going then, doctor." Shepard said motioning for Jason and Garrus to join her as she left. Garrus grabbed his guns and put on his armor quickly. "I'll see you on the ship Michel. Go. You'll be alright." He said.

_**I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade.**_

Their trip back to the embassies was complicated by the fact that they now had to avoid C-Sec patrols, which had been increased since the attack. Jason posted up next to the door. He hit the holographic lock and turned in.

_/On your right!/_ Ghost yelled.

Ducking, Jason swung his fist knocking the pistol that had been aimed for his head off. Jason looked over and saw Krogan in blood read armor and a nasty scar on his face.

_Wrex?_ Jason didn't have time to ponder more than that as the absolutely massive Krogan charged him slamming him against the wall. Jason pulled his knife, but Wrex head-butted him hard. The previous Krogan's head-butt had hurt. Wrex's felt like an atomic bomb going off in his skull.

Growling Jason pulled his head back and returned the favor.

Wrex seemed to be surprised that a human would dare head-butt a Krogan, even more so because it had actually hurt.

"Enough!" Shepard roared. She had Jason's pistol in her hands pointed directly at the back of Wrex's head.

Wrex growled and stepped back from Jason.

"Jason you alright?" She asked.

"Been head-butted by too many Krogan today, Commander." Jason growled out.

"Who are you?" Shepard asked.

"Urdnot Wrex."

"Why are you here?"

"I could ask you the same thing, human." The Krogan said.

Jason looked over, he saw Barla Von behind the desk. Someone had shot his suit full of holes. "Commander."

Shepard flicked her eye's over at Barla's corpse. "Guess that explains why he didn't answer." Fixing her glare on Wrex she asked, "Did you kill him?"

"No." Wrex said calmly. "The Shadow Broker has been an honest client for a long time. I wouldn't murder one of his contacts on the Citadel. Barla here stopped reporting in not to long ago. Apparently he was in the middle of a report, when he was suddenly cut off." Wrex explained. "One of the Broker's other agent's contacted me and asked me to find out what had happened. I only go there a few moments ago."

"Garrus, could Fist have set this up?" Shepard asked as she slowly lowered her gun.

"Possibly Commander, but if he did then he's stepped into an all new ball game." Garrus said. "Fist was always small time, if he set this up, someone must be paying him a lot of money."

The Commander cursed. Looking over at Jason she said, "Looks like we need to pay a visit to Fist."

Jason nodded, "It's the best lead we have right now."

Shepard looked over at Wrex. Jason could practically see the gears turning in her head. "Wrex you're a mercenary, how about a little side job? I need to kick someone's ass. You up for helping out?" She said.

A big grin spread across Wrex's face. "You let me take out whoever killed The Broker's agent and I'll do it for free. The Shadow Broker, doesn't take lightly to people killing his agents. He'll pay me handsomely for taking revenge for him."

"Looks like we have an agreement." Shepard said holding out her hand for Wrex to shake.

**A/N: Alright people it's come to my attention that I made an assumption, one that is wrong and I tell you know it has been made abundantly clear to me that I am wrong, so no need to keep rubbing my face it it. Gun powder weapons apparently work in space, go figure. I thought (again incorrectly) that the amount of air displaced by the gun shell would not be enough for the powder to completely burn off this rendering the gun ineffective. My bad. That said in the long run that detail will be minor at best so I'm not changing it. Now on to my next question is their anyone out their with Photoshop experience that would be willing to help me make a cover for Warrior's Ethos? PM me if you are.**

**Last bit: With a Warmachine Weekend Qualifier coming up in March I'll be spending a lot of my time the next few weeks practicing, plus it's Mardi Gras down here too so I don't know if I'll be in any condition to write coherently. If the next chapter takes two weeks I'm sorry.**


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